Max Verstappen’s “can’t be worse than last year” Red Bull take

Max Verstappen believes Red Bull’s 2025 F1 car represents a step forward.

Red Bull were hampered by poor mid-season development and balance issues with their RB20 but despite slipping to third place in the constructors’ championship, Verstappen was still able to clinch a fourth successive drivers’ title.

Having driven the RB21 during the first day of pre-season testing in Bahrain, Verstappen is confident Red Bull’s latest F1 challenger is an improvement on its predecessor.

“It can’t be worse than last year. So I think the direction that we are working into is good,” Verstappen said on day two of the test.

“We just need to follow that and see how much we can extract. At the moment, it’s really early days - a lot of things we are still discussing and wanting to improve.

“But yesterday I enjoyed it and that’s already a big difference to last year.”

The Dutchman, who was not involved on Thursday as Red Bull teammate Liam Lawson got a full day of running, added: “For myself and the team, at some point last year we knew something was up.

“Of course a few things have to be addressed and that’s why quite a few things have changed. So I give my feedback on what I need - the car needs to go faster and that’s what we try to apply.

“I think the team learned a lot from last year. We tried to solve those problems and now we have to see how the car performs in Australia, which is another completely different circuit [to Bahrain].”

Have Red Bull addressed previous problems?

Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko claimed on Wednesday that the team have found solutions to the problems which dogged the RB20.

"The car is more predictable and reacts to the changes in the normal way,” he said on day one. “So, all the problems we had last year, I believe they are much better, or maybe they are also sorted.

"Max says the car is more complex and is more put together, and whatever they do on changes, the car is reacting in the right way. On his fastest lap, he had a little problem, so it could have been [quicker]. But anyway, we say that long runs were really impressive and our tyre wear was very good.

“The car has the wider range and is more predictable for the drivers.”

Speaking to F1TV on day two, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner appeared to confirm that the issues with their 2024 car have now been fixed.

"At the moment, the data ties in with our simulations," Horner explained. “We have understood some of the limitations of RB20 and the team have worked hard to try and address those.

|Last year, we had a car that on occasion was very quick, winning races and sprints and getting more pole positions than anyone else, but it was very sensitive and to extract performance was difficult.

"Both drivers are now reporting that it is easier to drive."