Verstappen is aiming for a fifth consecutive Drivers’ Championship in 2025.
Max Verstappen has urged Red Bull to make an unprecedented change for 2025 that has not been seen in their 20-year history.
Verstappen won his fourth consecutive Drivers’ Championship in 2024, becoming only the fifth driver to achieve the feat after Juan Manuel Fangio, Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton.
Red Bull started strongly, with Verstappen winning seven of the first 10 races. His team-mate Sergio Perez, meanwhile, secured four podiums in the opening six races.
But Perez’s form deserted him completely in the second half of the season, while McLaren and Ferrari – and occasionally Mercedes – began to arrive at Grands Prix with a quicker car than the Red Bull.
Verstappen still scored more points than any other driver in the last 14 races of this season, but would only win twice more and Perez’s lack of points meant that Red Bull finished in third place in the Constructors’ Championship behind Ferrari and winners McLaren.
Following the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Red Bull announced that Perez would leave the team, with Liam Lawson earning a promotion from RB for the 2025 season.
The campaign is expected to be relatively similar to 2024 in terms of car performance, with the major regulation changes arriving for 2026 to potentially shake up the field.
Speaking in an interview with Nicola Hume for Red Bull’s official YouTube channel, Verstappen has, however, urged Red Bull to make a key change to the car – although it doesn’t have anything to do with performance.
He said: “I know when the car is quick enough, I’ll do the rest, but I just hope we’re competitive and that we’re back up there again.
“Probably when I come back to the factory for the first time [I’ll see the new car].
“I’m looking forward to seeing my own car. The livery, I hope it’s different. I was talking about it today, with these [older] cars with the shiny colour. We’ve had so many matte blue cars that I’m just hoping we spice it up a bit!”
Verstappen did add that the Red Bull has used duller colours in recent years to reduce weight – a practice used by the majority of the F1 grid.
Red Bull have carried a similar livery throughout their time in F1 since 2005, with the purple and blue colours intended to mirror colours used by the energy drink company.
They have, though, occasionally introduced special one-off liveries, including a Star Wars-themed car – with mechanics dressed as Stormtroopers – at the 2005 Monaco Grand Prix.
Red Bull would often experiment with different marketing and sponsorship techniques under the early days of Christian Horner’s stewardship as a small step in their quest to become one of the most dominant teams in F1.
Red Bull’s Star Wars-themed livery was used only once, at the 2005 Monaco Grand Prix (Image: Getty)
In addition, several alternate liveries have been revealed in testing – including a midnight blue-coloured version in 2019 – but have never made it to the opening race of the season.
All 10 Formula 1 cars for 2025 will be unveiled at a special ceremony at the O2 Arena, London on February 18.
