"We are ready ..."

Mercedes unimpressed: “Nobody is unbeatable!”

Mercedes with the first challenge for the coming season.

(Bild: AFP/APA/Manaure Quintero)

After the glittering world championship party in the city of sin, Max Verstappen doesn't have much time to recover from his title hangover. The beaten Formula 1 rivals want to use the races on Sunday in Qatar and a week later in Abu Dhabi to prepare for the attack on the now four-time world champion in the 2025 season. "Nobody is unbeatable," emphasized Las Vegas winner George Russell: "I think we are ready to take on this challenge now."

Verstappen knows that - and is already looking forward to it: "It's going to be a real battle with lots of cars, but I'm hungry." He was already hungry when he contested his first Formula 1 race almost ten years ago in March 2015. From a once (too) impetuous, greedy and aggressive young driver, he has become someone who has increasingly lived up to his reputation as the talent of the century and now brings down his challengers with frightening aplomb.

Four world championship titles in a row, 62 Grand Prix victories, 40 pole positions, 111 podium finishes - Verstappen has long since joined the ranks of the sport's greats. "There are these phases when teams and cars and drivers seem unbeatable, but you can't lose faith," said Mercedes driver Russell. It will be difficult to beat Verstappen next year, predicted Russell's team-mate Lewis Hamilton. Red Bull Racing had probably already focused on next year earlier than other teams when developing the cars. Whether this is the case remains to be seen.

George Russell

(Bild: AP)

It is clear that there will be no major rule changes next year. The radical rule reform is not due until 2026. "Then it will hopefully open up opportunities for more drivers," said two-time world champion Fernando Alonso, who is also hoping for the Adrian Newey effect by then at the very latest. The star designer announced his departure from the Austro-British racing team this season and will be working for Aston Martin in future.

Four teams in the battle for the crown
The Verstappen challengers are therefore likely to be in McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes next year. But that's where there's a lot of dynamite. Because it will no longer be like this year. At McLaren, it is doubtful that Oscar Piastri will allow himself to be demoted once again to the sidekick of the failed Lando Norris. At Ferrari, the arrival of record-breaking world champion Hamilton will put the structure to a real test.

Just how irritated his soon-to-be team-mate Charles Leclerc already is was evident on Sunday. And he wished that what he said in Vegas had stayed in Vegas. "Shit, shit, shit, and the radio's on," he said when he noticed it. With a cynical and sarcastic tirade and the F-word in multiple versions, he had previously complained vehemently to the team because his colleague Carlos Sainz had no longer adhered to the command post's instructions before his switch to Williams after this season.

Carlos Sainz

(Bild: Getty Images/CLIVE ROSE)

One of the exciting questions will be what the sensitivities will be like next year when Leclerc, who is still without a title and was once so highly rated, drives alongside the most successful driver in Formula 1 history. As will how Hamilton's successor at Mercedes will fare alongside Russell. The Silver Arrows have opted for newcomer Kimi Antonelli from Italy, who is just 18 years old. Imagine if he were to hit the ground running and put pressure on Russell, who believes himself to be in the leading role after Hamilton's departure.

Who will be Verstappen's teammate?
From a purely sporting point of view, Verstappen will probably be almost unconcerned about who will drive alongside him next year. It doesn't get much weaker than Sergio Pérez this season. Whoever it is in 2025, Verstappen's natural authority and status in the team are undisputed. All the sideshows seemed to bounce off him this year.

In what was probably the most serious and, above all, most public emergency the racing team has faced since it joined in 2005, with the dispute over team boss Christian Horner and a power struggle in which world champion father Jos Verstappen also got fully involved, Verstappen demonstrated great qualities as a crisis manager. Freed from all the burdens and the demanding title fight this year, he will also be fully recovered in good time when it's time to fight for victory again this weekend in his showpiece discipline of sprint racing in Qatar. Verstappen also knows that the prelude to his fifth consecutive triumph has already begun.