Will Max Verstappen lose faith in Red Bull? Five key questions ahead of F1 Saudi Arabian GP

The third and final part of F1 2025’s first triple header takes place with the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix this weekend.

Following an entertaining Bahrain Grand Prix, a new driver has established themselves as the potential title favourite, while there are plenty of intriguing storylines emerging behind.

Here are some of the biggest talking points as F1 makes the short hop to Jeddah…

Can Red Bull find solutions to woes?

Just a week on from Max Verstappen’s incredible triumph at Suzuka, Red Bull were sent crashing back down to earth with a dreadful weekend in Bahrain.

Red Bull’s RB21 was dogged by brake, balance and tyre woes, while the team suffered a rare horror show during their pit stops, as Verstappen could only come home sixth, three places ahead of teammate Yuki Tsunoda.

Verstappen cut a frustrated figure after Sunday’s race yet he still remains only eight points adrift of McLaren’s Lando Norris in the world championship.

But crisis talk amid Red Bull’s current struggles have left the team worried about Verstappen’s future. The Dutchman is contract with Red Bull until 2028 but his deal is known to contain a performance clause that could enable him to leave.

Red Bull know if they can’t get on top of their problems and provide Verstappen with a competitive car soon, there is a very real risk he could walk. This is now the biggest test of the four-time world champion’s faith in the team.

Is Oscar Piastri now title favourite?

But for his error in Melbourne, Oscar Piastri would be the McLaren driver leading the world championship.

The Australian has been exemplary bar that mistake, and has momentum well and truly on his side following a superb victory in Bahrain. A second win from the opening four races has seen Piastri close to within three points of teammate Norris.

Not only was Piastri’s win dominant, it was the calm and collected manner of his drive that was particularly impressive. Nothing seems to faze Piastri, who produced his strongest weekend in F1 to date.

Piastri is the driver in form and appears to be the stronger of the two McLaren drivers at this early stage of the season. A repeat performance in Jeddah would see him rocket to the top of the championship for the first time.

With just 14 points covering the top four drivers in the championship, it feels a little too early to label anyone as the clear favourite, but Piastri has certainly dispelled any doubters by putting himself right in the mix.

How will Lando Norris respond?

On the other side of the McLaren garage, it was a bruising weekend for Norris. The Briton fumbled his qualifying lap and what should have been a front row start ended up being a disappointing P6 on the grid.

Norris did at least recover well to take third, largely thanks to a sensational first lap, though a five-second penalty for starting outside of his grid box, coupled with some uncharacteristically scrappy racecraft, meant he  could not beat Mercedes’ George Russell to second.

After the race came Norris’s rather worrying admission that he is struggling with McLaren’s MCL39 challenger and is lacking the confidence to extract his best performance.

It is still early days in the title race but Norris can ill-afford too many more weekends like Bahrain. Norris has an immediate chance to respond and put things right in Saudi Arabia this weekend, but his current troubles will be a cause for concern.

Can Lewis Hamilton make step after Ferrari breakthrough?

It has been a mixed start to life at Ferrari for Lewis Hamilton, but the seven-time world champion came away from Bahrain in positive spirits, having felt he had discovered a breakthrough with the SF-25.

Aside from taking a shock pole position and victory in the China sprint race, Hamilton has had little to celebrate at Ferrari so far. The team are enduring a lacklustre start to the 2025 season and lagging behind McLaren, Mercedes and sometimes Red Bull.

Hamilton cut a dejected figure after qualifying ninth at Sakhir, having ended up nearly a second off pole and six tenths behind teammate Charles Leclerc.

But after recovering to fifth in Sunday’s grand prix, Hamilton revealed he has now “figured out” how best to drive Ferrari’s 2025 challenger, which features a different power unit and braking system to what Hamilton has previously been used to. He admitted he still needs to address his qualifying performances, but is encouraged after four races in red.

Saudi Arabia may come too soon to expect a huge turnaround, but can Hamilton at least get closer to Leclerc now he has made progress with his adaption after 12 years at Mercedes?

Are Alpine now best of the rest?

It has been quite the 12 months for Alpine, who qualified P19 and P20 during a disastrous season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix last year.

After a turbulent 2024 campaign largely spent towards the back of the grid, Alpine have slowly and steadily moved up, and in Bahrain Pierre Gasly’s star performance gave them their first points finish of the season.

A stunning qualifying lap saw Gasly bag fifth - which would later turn into P4 after both Mercedes drivers were hit with one-place grid drops - for Sunday’s race, which he converted into a strong seventh.

Gasly held sixth for much of the race and was only overtaken by Red Bull’s Verstappen on the final lap. It represented the ‘best of the rest’ spot behind only the top four teams (McLaren, Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull).

Alpine had genuine pace in Bahrain but it remains to be seen if that will translate over to Saudi Arabia. If Alpine can put together a run of form, they could well end up achieving their pre-season target of being the fifth-best team.