Verstappen rules Red Bull out of Australian GP victory bid

Max Verstappen has warned he doesn’t expect Red Bull to be in the battle for victory at Formula 1’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

Although reigning champion Verstappen has won four world titles in a row and took pole by 0.270s in the most recent Melbourne event, Red Bull slid down the pecking order throughout the 2024 campaign, as McLaren surged to the front while Ferrari and Mercedes also became consistent challengers.

Bahrain’s pre-season testing hinted at a similar hierarchy in 2025 as McLaren impressed with its long-run pace.

Red Bull, however, looked less competitive and was hindered by a number of issues. The team performed no race simulations after Liam Lawson encountered a water pressure loss, while the RB21’s behaviour remains cause for concern.

Verstappen did not display much optimism as testing came to a close, and the Red Bull driver opened up to Dutch media on Friday at a Viaplay event, expressing the extent of his worry.

“I don't think we can fight for the win already in Melbourne,” the Red Bull driver said, although he admitted that “everything [on the RB21] can be set up a little bit better in Melbourne than in Bahrain”.

Asked how many teams could compete for world titles in 2025, Verstappen designated McLaren: “At the moment only one, and that team is orange! That's a very nice colour of course, but from our side, we still have work to do. Other teams want to see some improvements as well, I think, so at the moment one team is clearly in front.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB21

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

“If you look at the lap times, then I think McLaren is the favourite. On our side, not everything went completely smoothly, but on the other hand we have some ideas on how to improve.”

At the conclusion of the Bahrain running, technical director Pierre Wache painted a downbeat picture, calling the event “not as smooth a test as we expected” and admitting to being “not as happy as I could be because the car did not respond how we wanted at times”.

The RB21’s predecessor was notoriously difficult to handle; Red Bull has been striving to solve this particular problem for almost a year now and it seems like the squad hasn’t been able to fully iron out the issue.

As reported during testing, the RB21 suffered from a tendency to understeer in slow corners while oversteering in high-speed curves on the Sakhir track.

“In terms of balance, it does feel a bit more connected when entering the corners and also in the middle of the corners,” Verstappen analysed. “But on the other hand, there are still problems with the kerbs and with the bumps.

“Those things are obviously not our strongest points, and I keep mentioning that. It doesn't always have to be said to the outside world, but during the meetings we obviously talk a lot about it.”

At least, as Verstappen put it during testing, the new car “can’t be worse than last year” – even if it fails to match the RB20’s early-season highs.