Max Verstappen predicts 'proper battle' in 2025 as he reflects on 'up and down' year at FIA Awards Ceremony

Max Verstappen has predicted a “proper fight between a lot of teams” in 2025 as he was presented with the world drivers’ trophy at the FIA Awards Ceremony on Friday night in Rwanda.

The Red Bull driver secured his fourth consecutive drivers' title in 2024 – a season he described as “up and down” during the ceremony in Kigali – with many considering this to be his greatest championship achievement given the competition across the grid.

IN NUMBERS: The incredible statistics behind Verstappen's fourth consecutive title-winning season

Verstappen faced a mighty challenge from McLaren’s Lando Norris for the title, before an extraordinary race in Brazil saw the Dutchman rise from 17th on the grid to win, which put him in a prime position to seal the deal in Las Vegas.

However, with Red Bull team mate Sergio Perez struggling with this year’s RB20 machine, Norris and Oscar Piastri did help McLaren to success in the constructors’ championship as the Woking outfit beat Ferrari to the top spot by just 14 points. Red Bull would finish in third, 77 points behind the leaders, with Verstappen responsible for scoring 74.2% of the team’s final points tally.

KIGALI, RWANDA - DECEMBER 13: In this handout provided by Federation Internationale de l'Automobile — Verstappen received the world drivers’ trophy on Friday night at the FIA Awards Ceremony

“This season as you could see was quite up and down,” said Verstappen during the awards ceremony as he collected his trophy for the fourth time. “We had a great start to the year, everything was looking great. I think especially from the outside, of course, as a team you always understand your limitations and what you want to work on.

“The competition did a great job, they improved their cars a lot and made it a lot more difficult for us – especially in the constructors’.

“We had a bit of a tough run in the middle of the season but even when we were under pressure, and having tough times, I think the team really stuck together. We didn’t panic, which could easily be done I think in those kinds of situations.

"At the end of the day I’m just very proud of everyone in the team as well. Of course we’re not standing here as constructors’ champions but, in a way, I do think we deserved a little bit more in that championship.

“I tried my very best and we also know a lot what we have to work on for next year. I’m very excited about that as well because it does look like it’s going to be a proper fight between a lot of teams.”

Following his latest success Verstappen is now part of a special club of drivers in F1 history to become a four-time world champion – a list just six names long as he joins the likes of Alain Prost and Sebastian Vettel with four triumphs.

Just three drivers remain ahead of him – Juan Manuel Fangio (five), Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton (both seven) – and the Dutchman was asked on stage what it felt like to be listed among those F1 greats.

“It’s something that as a kid growing up, you don’t think about these things,” he responded. “You look at the names and think ‘wow, that’s really impressive’ and hope one day you can be on the podium.

“Sometimes you get lucky in life, you are in the right place at the right time. Of course, as a driver you need to take advantage of that and luckily I’ve been able to do that at the same time.

“It’s amazing – four titles is definitely incredible. Of course, I also hope it doesn’t stop here and I hope that we can be successful for a longer period of time. You already could see this year the competition is very close.

“But then again in ’26, a lot is going to change and maybe some other teams are going to be competitive again. For the moment I think it’s very important to just enjoy the moment, be proud of what we’ve achieved as a team, and we’ll try again next year.”