Comment by Jehran Naidoo
Four races into the 2025 Formula One season, and a fifth straight world title for Red Bull driver Max Verstappen looks out of reach, with the team struggling to put a balanced car on track.
Only words and Verstappen’s facial expressions could describe how frustrated the four-time world champion is, given the impeccable season Red Bull enjoyed last year, winning all but one race.
But they are no longer the same Red Bull after losing a key element in former chief technical officer Adrian Newey, who was an integral part of their construction process.
Balance and tyre degradation has been among the biggest problems Christian Horner’s team has faced with the RB21.
All three of Red Bull’s second drivers – Sergio Perez, Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda – have labelled the car as disconnected and complained about the oversteering.
But Verstappen looked to have braved through the muck, even managing to secure a win at Suzuka during the Japanese Grand Prix.
Red Bull indicated that the power on the RB21 was turned all the way up, sacrificing its handling capabilities in the process.
But the flying Dutchman showed absolute class to steer the wild horse to victory.
Verstappen could not get the car going in Bahrain, however, and started the race from an unusual P7 on the grid and even got overtaken by Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli at one point in the race.
Verstappen finished P6 and lost valuable ground towards his fifth title shot, which McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris look to be running away with.
Verstappen said “everything went wrong” in Bahrain.
“We had a poor start, too much wheelspin when I dropped the clutch, and then the first stint again (I had) basically the same problems that I had in qualifying, plus we were just overheating our tyres too much compared to the competition ahead of us,” he said.
“Then (at) the first stop, I think the lights got stuck on, but of course I don’t want to drive through the lights – you want to stay and stick to the protocol of the team.
“So, that put me into traffic as well, then the hard tyres unfortunately didn’t work, so I was sliding around even more than I was on the soft.”
Prior to the 2025 season, Red Bull’s pace looked head and shoulders above the rest of the pack.
But the tide has turned on their fortunes, while Horner’s team desperately tries to deliver a steady car for the rest of the season.
Newey said the lack of experience at the team is what’s likely causing the current car problems. Newey was not shy expressing his thoughts on the new Red Bull team during an Auto Motor and Sport interview.
“I think Red Bull, from what I could see, the car was – already the 24 car and through the very last stages of 23 as well, I would say – starting to become more difficult to drive.
“And of course, Max could handle that, if you like. It didn’t suit him, but he could handle it.
“Checo (Sergio Perez) couldn’t, so you also started through (the) 23 season to see more of a difference in performance between the teammates, Max and Checo.
“That carried into the first part of 24, but the car was still quick enough to be able to cope with it.
“It’s something I was starting to become concerned about, but not many of the people in the organisation seemed to be very concerned about.”