Max Verstappen: Japanese GP pole doesn't mean Red Bull F1 car issues are solved
Red Bull still has work to do to fix the underlying issues affecting its 2025 F1 challenger, according to its star driver.
Max Verstappen said his stunning pole lap in qualifying shouldn’t imply that Red Bull has found a solution for its car balance problems in Formula 1.
The four-time F1 champion gained half a second between Q2 and Q3 to set a new lap record at Suzuka and beat McLaren duo Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to pole position.
The performance earned the praise of Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, who said his outfit "turned the car upside down" to allow Verstappen to set “one of his best laps in qualifying ever.”
The Dutchman also praised the work put in by Red Bull to get the tricky RB21 into a window where it was at least driveable.
However, he explained that the underlying issues plaguing the car remain unsolved, and the Milton Keynes-based squad was merely able to get him into a position where he could mask its e problems.
Asked if he still suffered from the ‘flexing’ issue that he complained about in practice, the 27-year-old said: “I think that issue was a lot better today.
“But at the same time, the corner balance is still what we need to work on.
“On low fuel over one lap, some bits you can mask a little bit. But it’s still not like I go into the lap fully confident and comfortable.
"So the last lap I was like, ‘Well, I'm just going to not try and feel uncomfortable – just send it in and see what we get’.
“It’s very rare that a lap like that can stick, but this time it worked well. We know that we have some issues that we want to solve, but it's clearly not easy to solve them at the moment.”
Red Bull’s now-famous balance issues came to light last year, as the team’s competitive fortunes rapidly declined after a dominant start to the season.
Sergio Perez and his replacement Liam Lawson struggled to gel with the car, while Verstappen too has been outspoken about the handling of the 2025-spec RB21.
Yuki Tsunoda’s promotion to the team this weekend has provided another source of input to the team, with the Japanese driver explaining that he failed to get the tyres warmed up after qualifying 14th on the grid.
However, Verstappen explained that Red Bull’s problems go far beyond tyre warm-up, revealing that the team experimented with several things before he had enough confidence in the car to bag pole position.
“I don't think it has to do with the tyres – for me, at least,” he stated. “It’s just the through corner balance that is very difficult to manage.
“But we clearly got it in a window where at least it was drivable to push. Luckily, it was enough for first, but I don't say, ‘Oh, I'm first, now everything is perfect.’
“We still have clear issues that we need to solve and that's what we're continuing to work on. This is a very tough track for the car in general. It's really high speed, so any little balance limitation you have can be multiplied in some places around the lap.
“Some tracks might work out a bit better for us, some might be worse. But it was clear that up until now this whole weekend we have been really experimenting a lot to find that drivable balance. At least it allowed me to push a bit more.”
