Max Verstappen has admitted “everything went red” during his clash with George Russell at the Spanish Grand Prix, as he reflected on the major “mistake” of his Formula 1 season so far.
With three race weekends remaining, a fifth consecutive world title for Verstappen seems unlikely as after the Brazil GP the Dutchman finds himself 49 points behind championship leader Lando Norris.
According to Verstappen, Red Bull lost a stronger chance in the world title fight in the middle part of this season, when the team struggled with the RB21. The upgrades introduced in Monza made the car more competitive, but Verstappen said before that Red Bull didn’t always extract the car’s full potential.
But the four-time F1 world champion also picked out the Spanish GP which, with hindsight, he felt he should have handled differently, as he told Dutch broadcaster Viaplay: “The only point of criticism is obviously Barcelona. That move itself – and the entire incident – was not good, but that’s also because I care a lot. I could have thought, ‘this car isn’t working anyway, so I let it go.’”
However, that’s not how Verstappen wants to go racing: “I can’t accept – towards myself – stepping out of the car and knowing that I didn’t give everything. Then I get angry with myself, so I can’t drive at 80%.”
After Red Bull’s call to fit the hard tyre, and – as later became clear – a wrong instruction to give back the position to Russell, Verstappen couldn’t accept the situation.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
“When I get out of the car, I always need to be able to tell to myself, ‘I did everything I could.’ That’s why I was so angry in Barcelona – first with what happened on the straight at the restart, then into Turn 1, and then of course when I was told to give the position back. That’s when all signs went red.”
Emotion and frustration briefly took over, though Verstappen says he learned from it.
“That was a mistake from my side, and of course I learn from it,” he added. “Those moments won’t happen again next year, even if we’re in a similar situation with the car. These are the small things you learn from, but overall, in terms of performance, the season was absolutely good.”
Despite a challenging 2025 season so far, Verstappen is satisfied with his own performances behind the wheel.
“Every season you try to look back and think ‘where did I leave something on the table’ or ‘where could I have been a bit more consistent?’ But with the material I had, I think I’ve maximised a lot throughout the season,” Verstappen said.
“That’s a positive. From the outside, it’s sometimes hard to judge these things based on how competitive a car is, but I’m happy with my season.”
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