14/08/2025 12:00
Bernie Collins believes Max Verstappen's claim he will not win
another grand prix this F1 season could be "demotivating" to his
Red Bull team. The Dutchman has not held back in criticising the
troublesome RB21, which suffered its worst weekend of the year at
the pre-summer break Hungarian Grand Prix. Such is the extent of
the issues with the car, the four-time F1 drivers' champion had not
only essentially conceded his crown to either Oscar Piastri or
Lando Norris, but he also does not believe he can beat the McLaren
drivers in any of the 10 remaining grands prix. At 97 points behind
the Australian side of the Woking squad's garage, it would take
nothing short of something extraordinary for Verstappen to emerge
as champion for the fifth consecutive time. However, the
27-year-old has already put together two stunning drives across the
opening 14 rounds of the campaign to triumph at Suzuka and Imola.
The 65-time grand prix winner adding to his haul does remain
plausible, and Collins has questioned how helpful it is for him to
suggest it is not. "I don't think any driver says: 'we're not going
to win anything this year' as a motivator to the team, that's
pretty demotivating ," she said on Sky Sports F1 . "If I was an
engineer, I think that would really hit you a little bit." The
strategy analyst-turned-pundit highlighted how Verstappen will be
hoping Red Bull can remedy the problems with its car for the start
of the sweeping regulations changes that come into force at the
start of next season. "So, I think he's hoping that, with Laurent
Mekies, [a] very technical guy, they're hoping that they can get on
top of the issues that this Red Bull has had for several seasons
now maybe, get the second driver working well, and start to...
"Next year, they've got this real line in the sand, a real chance
to start again, but they need to get on top of these fundamental
issues that there have been for a little while now." Collins
expanded on Verstappen's public remarks about his inability to win
in the RB21, explaining that she feels it is a method of
underlining his dissatisfaction with the direction of the team.
Verstappen, despite being contracted to Red Bull until the end of
2028, has committed to staying with the Milton Keynes squad next
year amid considerable speculation he would pursue avenues to get
out of his deal early. However, the threat of him leaving continues
to loom over the six-time constructors' champions. "And Max, I
think, is just using it as a powerful way of communicating with the
team: 'I am really not happy, and something needs to change in this
car to make me happy', and that's what will hopefully drive the
entire engineering force behind him to get a car that he can be
more competitive with next year," she added.
