Red Bull's time in the sun is falling away. The pace seems to keep getting worse, and who knows what 2026 could hold for them.
Christian Horner's out. Max Verstappen even seemed like he might be trying to get out. The second seat is a disaster to the point where anyone would probably rather driving for Racing Bulls instead.
Even still, Verstappen is succeeding in ways that are hard to quantify, how difficult they must be.
Max Verstappen's stats
Standings Position: 3rd
Points: 187
Best Finish: 1st (2 times)
Best Qualifying Position: 1st (4 times)
Head-to-head race finishes (vs. Tsunoda/Lawson): 13-1
Head-to-head qualifying: 14-0
Head-to-head points: 187-10
Some dips, but the highs have been preposterous
Verstappen's ability to produce drives that shouldn't be able to happen are probably underrated, even though they are well known. We can't know just how bad the car really is, but it's clear it has dipped a lot.
McLaren's current status as the clear top team comes with them not dominating at the level that Verstappen did in 2022-23, which gives us a bit of a peek into how good he really is.
Verstappen at Japan this year might've been one of his finest drives -- a lap that seemed unfathomable to get pole, and then holding the much better McLaren at bay for the win.
And Imola represented one of Verstappen's finest moves -- a pass on the outside on lap one around Oscar Piastri. Verstappen may well be known for moves that are low percentage, and with a less skilled driver next to him, it could've been a disaster, but the Dutchman made it work at a track where passing isn't at a premium, ever.
Verstappen now comes into the break fresh off his quietest and "weakest" performance, in a Hungarian Grand Prix where he started in 8th (behind a Sauber) and then lost a place to finish 9th. It's hard to find a race where Verstappen finished but was so far out of the conversation in the whole of the 2020s.
Bahrain also represented a low point, where Verstappen came home 6th, just barely ahead of Pierre Gasly in an Alpine. He had a bad start, allegedly bad brakes and poor pit stops on the way to his third-lowest finish of the year.
The lowest point of Verstappen's year, though, came at the Spanish Grand Prix. In recent years, we've heard the champ lose his cool, but with a powerful car underneath him, he still achieved victory or at least a podium.
But in Spain, Verstappen didn't have winning pace, and then lost two spots on a late restart to Charles Leclerc and George Russell. The reason for the position drops were due to the tires he had to put on, but his response to this was nearly running into Leclerc and then purposely crashing into Russell as he "gave a position back" to him. It was a poor showing that probably was underpenalized.
Russell v. Verstappen is close, and could go the other way in the second half
One of the biggest rivalries in today's F1 is between Russell and Verstappen, despite the fact the two aren't near each other that often.
Russell has not approved of Verstappen's driving style and "violence" behind the wheel, while Verstappen hasn't really cared to listen to critiques (this is true about any driver who speaks on him, to be fair).
The two haven't had chances to interact too often because of the discrepancies in pace between Red Bull and Mercedes ever since Russell joined the team just after Verstappen's maiden title. And now, for the purpose of these rankings, the two are right next to each other, and Russell is very close to moving ahead of Verstappen, in my opinion.
Verstappen's consistency has not been at the same level as Russell of late, but Verstappen is slightly ahead on points due to his heroic drives.
It will be very interesting to see the trajectory of these two in the final 10 rounds of 2025.