How Red Bull can win back both World Championship titles

Why Red Bull can win back their Constructors’ title in F1 2025 season

How did they do in 2024?

Max Verstappen may well have retained his Drivers’ crown but 2024 was an alarming drop off for a Red Bull team many expected to walk to both Championships.

A brilliant start was overshadowed by an internal investigation on alleged misconduct by team principal Christian Horner and even if he was cleared, it did leave some wounds within the Red Bull hierarchy.

Threats of Helmut Marko walking away and taking Verstappen with him were played down but a very real falling out of Jos Verstappen and Horner made the team vulnerable. All the while, Toto Wolff was sniffing around trying to unsettle their star driver.

They were then hit with the punch that Adrian Newey would be leaving, later revealing he was joining Aston Martin, and long-time sporting director Jonathan Wheatley also announced he was heading for pastures new at Audi.

On track, Sergio Perez continued to underwhelm while the RB20 proved to be far from as dominant as its predecessor. Issues with balance required Red Bull to work back their development plan, meaning McLaren and Ferrari moved ahead, pushing Red Bull down to an unthinkable third in the standings.

With their lead designer gone and a near rookie in the car, the question will be can they get back to the front of the grid?

What they need to do

Balance is the key word for Red Bull because despite how good a driver Verstappen may be, if he does not feel comfortable with a car then he will not be able to get the best out of it.

Red Bull have long had an issue with the balance of a car but the speed of the RB19 papered over the cracks, cracks which broke open a third of the way into 2024.

A bumpy Monaco exposed the RB20’s shortcomings and in Red Bull’s attempt to fix the problem, they found themselves reversing down their development path and losing speed to their rivals.

The result was Verstappen’s fourth title being one of dragging a car to the front rather than the car putting him there and a more effective McLaren and Lando Norris could well have meant it was a trophy-less year for the team.

Pierre Waché is the man who has been tasked to revert the team’s fortunes but if he and his team are unable to produce a balanced car that Verstappen cannot drive, there can be no realistic expectation of them winning back the Constructors’.

What about the drivers?

Verstappen needs no introduction – which means plenty of the focus will be on the other side of the garage.

The poisoned chalice that is being Verstappen’s team-mate has been handed down to Liam Lawson but it is a choice that poses plenty of questions.

Lawson has driven in the past two seasons but is hardly an F1 veteran with just 11 grands prix to his name. No doubt it is a risk to promote him so quickly but for whatever reason, Christian Horner and co. did not fancy Yuki Tsunoda or Carlos Sainz.

The 22-year-old New Zealander has been handed the task of staying within three tenths of Verstappen but the Dutchman has proven time and time again to be a team-mate killer with Sergio Perez the latest to be dismissed.

Who is their MVP?

Undoubtedly, the man most vital person to Red Bull’s title chances is Max Verstappen.

A four-time World Champion, Verstappen has often been a one-man army in the Constructors’ battle and his tally last season would have been enough for fifth in the table. In 2023, he could have won it by himself.

2024 showed that Verstappen can extract every inch of performance from a car but with the scores set back to zero, the Dutchman no longer has a lead he can fall back on if the car is a step off the competition.

Building a car that suits Verstappen but also hits the ground running is key to any title contest and in a straight fight, you would not bet against the reigning champion.

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Why they won’t

Red Bull’s title chances will not be decided out on track, but instead in the walls of their Milton Keynes factory.

Come race day, the team are arguably the most effective in terms of maximising performance so there is never any question that they will let opportunities slip. Their only kryptonite is the car not being competitive enough to battle for the top spots.

Four potential title contenders suggest points will be split across the season but Red Bull cannot afford to start 2025 as far behind Ferrari and McLaren as they were at the end of 2024.