Max Verstappen claims he didn’t lose 2025 F1 title in Spain, but should he be more self-critical?

Looking at the maths of Max Verstappen’s 2025 Formula 1 season, from a certain point of view, is damning.

On the one hand, he achieved a remarkable recovery, from 104 points down on championship leader Oscar Piastri with nine grands prix remaining to just two points away from newly crowned world champion Lando Norris at the end of the season.

On the other hand, Verstappen lost at least nine points in the Spanish Grand Prix when, after a Turn 1 clash with George Russell, the Dutchman was incensed to be asked by race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase to let the Mercedes through after he cut Turn 2.

Verstappen proceeded to slow down but immediately drove into Russell at Turn 5, earning a 10-second penalty that dropped him from fifth to 10th. That’s a nine-point loss.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, George Russell, Mercedes

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images via Getty Images

Straight after the Barcelona race, the Red Bull driver had been dismissive, shutting down questions on the incident. “Does it matter?” he retorted. He was more open about it last month, owning up to a “mistake” on Dutch TV channel Viaplay.

But given the potential decisive impact on the title race, he was always going to be interrogated about it in the Abu Dhabi post-race press conference – and The Guardian’s Giles Richards asked the bold question.

“Max, you lost out to Lando by just two points,” Richards said. “What do you think now about the incident with George Russell in Spain? Do you regret that looking back in hindsight?”

“You forget all the other stuff that happened in my season,” Verstappen replied, getting more and more irritated as he went on. “The only thing you mention is Barcelona. I knew that would come. You’re giving me a stupid grin now. I don’t know. Yeah, it’s part of racing at the end. You live and learn. The championship is one of 24 rounds. I’ve also had a lot of early Christmas presents given to me in the second half, so you can also question that.”

Lando Norris, McLaren, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Andrej Isakovic / AFP via Getty Images

There is no question that McLaren wasted a lot of points this season, and most importantly, nobody can say that particular incident cost Verstappen the title. The butterfly effect means, if Red Bull’s racer hadn’t driven into Russell, the remainder of the season would almost certainly have panned out differently – and nobody can say how.

But Verstappen’s attitude – which partly stems from how he behaves with British media relative to Dutch journalists – greatly contrasts with that of the driver he lost the world title to.

Lando Norris has always been self-critical – arguably to an extreme which, at times, amounts to self-flagellation. He’s not the only one with this philosophy, which Charles Leclerc has always indulged in too.

Even after winning the title, Norris was very much aware his season had been far from perfect.

“If I look back on it, my first half of the season – not the most impressive,” the Briton commented. “Certainly, times I made some mistakes, made some bad judgments. I made my errors, as I'm sure every driver would admit to.”

Would Verstappen, though? One can only admire his self-confidence. That’s part of his ruthlessness. But will he actually learn from the unnecessary mistake he made at Barcelona? He vowed to in Dutch, he was defiant in English. Only time will tell.