will not change his approach to racing in 2025 despite being just four penalty points away from a one-race suspension that would deal a critical blow to his chances of retaining his world champion status.

Heading into the 2025 campaign, Verstappen and have eight penalty points each, with the ban threshold at 12. Worryingly for the Red Bull driver, none of his points will be wiped clean until the end of June, meaning he will be walking a disciplinary tightrope during the early stages of the season.

Despite the danger that lurks, Verstappen has no plans to change his elbows-out approach to battling on track. "No, but I've been there before," he explained at the F1 75 event. "I think I've been on nine or 10 [before], so it's all about just managing the situation."

Verstappen picked up several significant penalties during his fight to stay atop the Drivers' Championship standings last season. He was hit with two 10-second penalties for a couple of controversial moves against Lando Norris in Mexico City and another for tagging into a spin at Turn One in Abu Dhabi.

While the four-time world champion has no plans to change his approach, the same cannot be said for the FIA. The stewards punished nearly all avoidable contact in Abu Dhabi with 10-second penalties (and, therefore, more penalty points), which will be the norm moving forward.

Speaking exclusively to Express Sport about the harsher penalties, Haas star Esteban Ocon explained: "No [I won't change my approach]. No, not really. I mean, you need to obviously keep it in mind, but you always need to keep in mind [that you should] stay away from trouble.

"You know that if you do something, you are going to get called to the stewards, which is quite clear. And it is something that you need to stay out of at every single point because first, it is stressful, second you could get a grid drop or something else - a fine or whatever, which is not good for the team, and we don't want any of this, of course.

"But last year, I don't think I really got called to the stewards, or once maybe, but that was it really. There was not any other point that it happened. So touching wood, that will be the same thing this year."

Verstappen can ill-afford to miss a race through suspension in 2025. The Dutchman is chasing F1 history with a fifth successive title, but Ferrari and McLaren are perceived to have an advantage over Red Bull heading into the campaign, and all four of their drivers are feasible title contenders heading to Melbourne