Ex-Red Bull Driver Refuses to Rule out Max Verstappen from 2025 Title Fight

David Coulthard firmly believes that it is too soon to write off Max Verstappen's chances for the 2025 drivers' title.

Ex-Red Bull Driver Refuses to Rule out Max Verstappen from 2025 Title Fight

Max Verstappen (via Red Bull)

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Max Verstappen‘s time on the grid in the 2025 season has been very challenging. The Dutchman is rendered unable to fight for race wins due to the deteriorating pace of the RB21 challenger. Many people, including even Verstappen, have seemed to give up on the championship ambitions for this year. However, ex-Red Bull driver David Coulthard doesn’t want to write off the reigning world champion’s chances so easily.

Max Verstappen led the drivers’ championship table for a brief period at the beginning of the 2025 season. Despite giving it his all, Verstappen eventually lost the lead to the dominating drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris and is adrift of the lead by 69 points. The 27-year-old has already asserted that his results don’t matter anymore as he’s too far off the lead in the title. Still, David Coulthard firmly believes that the Dutchman couldn’t be ruled out anytime soon.

David Coulthard recalled the Japanese GP and Max Verstappen’s shock pole in the race that ultimately helped him achieve the race win. Coulthard reckoned that the pole position was extremely shocking, as no one believed Verstappen had it in him. Even the most recent pole at the British GP in Silverstone was reminiscent of his performance at Suzuka.

I wasn’t in Japan, but I was watching Qualifying, and when Max took pole there, I was like, ‘How did he do that?’ It was a little bit like that at Silverstone as well.

David Coulthard told F1

David Coulthard pointed out that exceptional drivers doing exceptional things on the track was the very essence of Formula 1, which drew him to the sport. Other drivers couldn’t perform as well as Max Verstappen can in the disappointing RB21 from Red Bull. Because of Verstappen’s racing mettle, Coulthard refused to rule out the reigning world champion from winning the title in the 2025 season.

That’s one of the things I love about the sport – seeing exceptional drivers do exceptional things when others can’t or haven’t. You cannot rule Max out.

David Coulthard added

David Coulthard labels Max Verstappen ‘exceptional’ amid Red Bull’s woes

Red Bull is trying their best to recover from their performance slump and retain Max Verstappen in the squad beyond the 2025 season. The team even fired Christian Horner mid-way through the 2025 season as there already were rumors of Verstappen wanting the team principal gone. Now, the Dutchman could reconsider his stay at the Austrian squad and witness if the performance improves under new leadership.

Christian Horner, Max Verstappen and Helmut Marko (via Red Bull)
Christian Horner, Max Verstappen, and Helmut Marko (via Red Bull)

David Coulthard asserted that Red Bull will need serious upgrades and improvements in their car if they want to enable Max Verstappen’s championship chances. While Verstappen is currently way off in the standings, Coulthard raises no doubts about the capabilities of the team and the four-time champion to resurrect from the massive performance slump.

It will take an upgrade from Red Bull to give him the consistency. Are they capable of doing it? Absolutely. Have they done it before? Yes. Is Max exceptional? Absolutely.

David Coulthard noted

The 2025 season has been nothing short of a rollercoaster ride for Max Verstappen. He is the epicenter of rumors over wanting to leave Milton Keynes and join Mercedes in the coming season. The Dutchman hasn’t commented anything concrete on the matter yet as he is likely to continue his career at the Austrian outfit. For now, the team will have to focus on the final 12 races and end the season in the best possible scenario.

Also Read: Zak Brown Breaks Silence on ‘Unsurprising’ Sacking of Christian Horner from Red Bull