Verstappen title campaign handed HUGE Red Bull blow

Max Verstappen has been handed a severe blow ahead of the new season following a shock admission by one of Red Bull's key figures.

The Dutchman clinched his fourth successive Formula 1 drivers' title in 2024, having overcome one of the most challenging campaigns of his career.

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Despite starting the season in ominous form, Verstappen suffered a drastic drop-off in performance midway through the year.

At one stage, the 27-year-old went 10 grands prix without a victory, a run which enabled McLaren star Lando Norris to mount an unexpected championship challenge.

Verstappen's brilliant triumph at the Brazilian Grand Prix in early November, however, all but guaranteed he would retain his trophy, with his fifth-place finish at the following race in Las Vegas enough to seal the deal.

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Could Red Bull be set for 2025 struggle?

He wasn't the member of the Milton Keynes-based outfit to struggle for much of last year, with team-mate Sergio Perez also well off the pace in the second half of the campaign.

His dire sequence of results was a key factor in Red Bull's failure to retain their constructors' crown, ultimately finishing 2024 behind Ferrari and champions McLaren.

Perez's lacklustre displays saw the Mexican removed from his position, with Liam Lawson taking his place on the grid for 2025.

Yet while there is excitement ahead of the new era, the team's technical director Pierre Wache has urged caution.

Speaking to Autosport after the end of last season, the Frenchman admitted there is no guarantee Red Bull will make an immediate return to the top of the order.

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"“I think we are happy with what we have done quickly," he said.

“I'm not confident for '25. I'm not confident because I think the others are very quick or are there. It will be a fight for the full year.

"If you have confidence in this business, you are dead. You have to work hard, and everybody has to, in the team, work hard. Everybody's working hard.

“When you see the number of people we have trying to find a very small amount of performance and add and add and add everywhere, it is a very difficult task.

“I have a lack of confidence, because if I have confidence, you go to sleep, you don't go to work, and then you don't find performance.”

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