Why Verstappen feels Red Bull cannot put its woes down to just old wind tunnel

Max Verstappen says his Red Bull car's handling issues can't just be attributed to correlation issues with the Formula 1 squad's ageing wind tunnel.

Red Bull has endured a tough start to the season with a car that is difficult to balance and suffers greater tyre wear than the leading McLaren.

Verstappen managed to limit the damage over the first two rounds and then achieved a shock pole-to-flag victory in Japan, but last weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix - on a hot and abrasive Sakhir circuit that was tough on the rear tyres - further exposed the RB21's weaknesses, with Verstappen finishing a lowly sixth.

Afterwards team boss Christian Horner admitted Red Bull is still struggling with similar technical issues that left it powerless to defend an initial championship lead against McLaren last year, with it understood some of the quirks it is experiencing on track can't be fully replicated in its ageing wind tunnel.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

The team is constructing a new tunnel at Milton Keynes, but that won't go online before 2027. Verstappen acknowledged that Red Bull's wind tunnel discrepancies aren't helping matters, but pointed out the team was still successful with the unit in 2022 and 2023, so it can't point all fingers towards its infrastructure.

"Of course, we're not entirely happy with it and we're working on a new wind tunnel," Verstappen told Dutch media, including Autosport. "It just takes time, but we already knew that. It's not a new thing this season. We saw back in 2023 that you can't detect certain things in the wind tunnel.

"But the team has experience with that, so they know which direction they should develop in. The only issue is that they can't perfect some small details. But it worked in 2022 and 2023, and in 2021 we also had a good car under different regulations. So I wouldn't just attribute everything to [the wind tunnel]."

When asked if the squad's current woes are making him pessimistic for its 2026 prospects, he replied: "Well that's a completely different car, so you can't compare that. It could be a different team that suddenly gets everything right."