Max Verstappen: Red Bull’s 2025 F1 car not responding to my input
The Dutchman has been masking the inherent weaknesses of Red Bull’s Formula 1 package.
Max Verstappen feels Red Bull’s RB21 is not responding the way he wants it to, as he admitted that he was just “not fast enough” to fight for pole position in the Chinese Grand Prix.
With McLaren stealing a march on its rivals at the start of the season, Red Bull has been forced to play catch-up to its Woking-based rival.
Although the energy drinks giant improved the performance window of its troubled F1 car over the winter, the RB21 continues to face some of the balance issues that blighted its predecessor during Verstappen’s title-winning campaign in 2024.
The four-time F1 champion explained that the car's behaviour is affecting his speed in both short and long runs, after qualifying fourth at the Shanghai International Circuit on Saturday.
“We are not fast enough,” he conceded. “I think the lap was alright, it was just very difficult to get a consistent balance out of it every lap, every corner.
“It was tough. But we are working on it. We are trying to do better.
He added: “I feel comfortable [and] confident with tight corners, but whenever my input is not what I'm getting back from the car, that makes it quite difficult to nail every corner.
“Plus, then in the race when it's not doing that you are probably degrading your tyres harder than the cars around you and that's not ideal.”
Verstappen said he is satisfied with how he is extracting the maximum out of the RB21 in both qualifying and race trim, even though he is not happy with the outright potential of the car.
“I probably feel in the best shape again, driving-wise, compared to even years before,” he said.
“I feel like I'm going to qualifying and nailing the laps and doing a good job.
“The races so far, we are executing everything that we can but when the base pace is lacking there is not much that you can do.”
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner expects tyre degradation to play a key role in deciding the race at the resurfaced and grippier Shanghai circuit.
“It's pretty tight at the front there and we tried a few things to hopefully help in the race tomorrow,” he said.
“Tenth and a half or so off pole, we were purple in the first sector but unfortunately we didn't have enough in the tyre at the end of the lap so yeah encouraging.
“It will be fascinating. These tyres are so sensitive, we saw it in the sprint race earlier, with different graining, and different cars working in different ways.
“So I don't think pole position is essential for this race, it's all going to be about strategy and it's all going to be about the front left tyre.”
