Max Verstappen believes Red Bull shouldn’t have had the pace to secure a front row spot for the Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix Sprint race.

Verstappen is set to line up alongside old adversary Lewis Hamilton for Saturday’s Sprint at the Shanghai International Circuit with the legendary duo separated by a mere 0.018s.

The shock omission was the two McLaren drivers who suffered with a fast, but prickly MCL39 leaving a positively surprised Verstappen to capitalise.

“I do think that in first practice we were quite a bit off so I’m very happy to be on the front row,” the Dutchman said on Friday.

“The lap was very good, it’s very tough when you go from a medium to a soft to nail the lap with no references,” he added, referencing the peculiar tyre rules that mandate medium compounds for the first two segments of Sprint Qualifying. 

“I mean, of course, when you look at it, it was 18 thousandths or something off of pole, but I don’t think we should have even been on the front row anyway, so I’m very happy to be second.”

Verstappen went on to say that he and the team made minimal changes to the RB21 as drivability wasn’t an issue heading into Sprint Qualifying.

Instead, the 2025 Red Bull challenger lacks overall pace, as Liam Lawson’s SQ1 exit demonstrated.

Equally, Verstappen’s result showed how maximum efficiency can pay huge dividends.

“I don’t think the balance is massively off we’re just too slow, I would say,” said Verstappen. 

“But this [result] is good for us, a little motivation boost I think as well for everyone. 

“We keep nailing the laps, we keep trying to maximise everything that we got and you need to do that as well when you’re maybe struggling a little bit more for pace.”

Verstappen analyses China Sprint prospects

Looking ahead to Saturday’s Sprint, Verstappen held a glass-half-full mentality.

He expects Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris to pose a threat from third and sixth on the grid, but at least thinks he can challenge amongst the front runners in his Red Bull.

“I think we’ve got a car to try and keep something because the McLarens didn’t look as quick today in that session as we thought they would be,” he began. 

“I think they looked very fast up until that last run, so I think it will be very hard to keep them behind, but hopefully it’ll be fun. 

“We are all, I wouldn’t say close, but at least we can race a bit around, that would be nice for me.”

READ MORE – Max Verstappen makes admission on Red Bull win prospects in F1 2025

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Max Verstappen claims it’s “impossible” to quantify whether McLaren’s 2025 advantage outweighs the one Red Bull had with its 2023 Formula 1 machine.

Mercedes’ George Russell has been repeatedly despondent about the field’s deficit to McLaren, despite the 2025 season being one race young.

In Melbourne, he argued that McLaren could already switch 100% development focus onto next year given the pace of the MCL39 and on Thursday in Shanghai, he made an even bolder claim.

“The gap they have this year on everybody is bigger than Red Bull has ever had,” he said (via The Race),” adding the MCL39’s advantage is “definitely bigger” than the RB19 that won all but one race in 2023.

Verstappen, meanwhile, said “it’s impossible” to say whether the MCL39 is stronger than the all-conquering Red Bull.

“Unless you have driven that car yourself,” he added.

“They’re super strong,” Verstappen said of McLaren. 

“I have a lot of respect for what they have done already last year and now they’re very fast. Very all-round, good everywhere.

“That is just a fact now, how big the gap is or whatever is difficult to say.”

Red Bull lacking all-around performance to McLaren – Verstappen

All-around performance is something that Verstappen believes Red Bull’s RB21 is lacking.

Speaking to F1 media the Dutchman said “I just want to focus on our own car. We just try to work from there, because that’s the only thing that we can control anyway. 

“That’s what I prefer to focus on and hopefully, step by step, we can find some more performance.

“I think in general, what we have seen so far, high-speed has not really been weak, so it is quite good.

“It is more the rest of it, where we are not all-round enough. 

“That is what we have to work on. Here, there are not that many high-speed corners, but there are a lot of unknowns with the tarmac – it’s new. So it’s very hard to say where we will be.”

His assessment of the weekend ahead was pragmatic, saying “I for sure know that we will not be the quickest because I think that is McLaren with how strong they are currently. 

“But that’s fine. We just have to focus on ourselves and try to do the best we can.”

When it comes to how the pecking order behind McLaren, Verstappen added “Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari were all quite close [in Australia]. 

“And [that] probably will differ a bit track to track.”

READ MORE – Max Verstappen makes admission on Red Bull win prospects in F1 2025

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Lewis Hamilton labelled the radio exchanges Max Verstappen has “far worse” than the communication troubles he had with Ferrari in the  Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix.

Hamilton and Adami, who worked with Sebastian Vettel and Carlos Sainz previously, had a baptism of fire at the Albert Park Circuit last weekend.

Adami, keen to guide Hamilton through the mixed conditions on his Ferrari bow, was consistent in his delivery of information, only for the driver to ask for less interaction.

The awkward discussion highlighted the work the two have to be on the same page, but Hamilton insisted post-race that there wasn’t a deep-rooted problem emerging.

Instead, the Briton feels the coverage of the interactions was overblown and drew a comparison to his ex-F1 title rival Verstappen’s fiery chats with Gianpiero Lambiasse.

“I was very polite in how I had suggested it,” Hamilton said via Sky. “I said: ‘leave it to me, please’.

“I wasn’t saying ‘F you’. I wasn’t swearing. So it was just at that point, I was really struggling with the car and I needed full focus on these couple of things.

“We’re getting to know each other. He’s obviously had two champions or more in the past and there’s no issues between us still.”

He added: “Go and listen to the radio calls with others and their engineers, far worse.

“But unfortunately, you [the media] make… the conversation that Max has with an engineer over the years, the abuse that the poor guy’s taken and you never write about it, but you wrote about the smallest little discussion I had with mine.”

Hamilton highlights Verstappen-Lambiase exchanges

It’s actually well-documented that Verstappen and Lambiasse are fiery over team radio, but it has proved to be a winning duo and a routine the duo has settled into.

It’s a chalk-and-cheese combination for sure, but speaks to the fact both men are comfortable with one another after years of collaboration.

Hamilton and Adami are just one race into their working relationship, so naturally, things will take time to gel, leaving him still surprised about the attention it garnered.

“I don’t know why everyone’s been so negative about it,” he said. 

“I was polite. I always said ‘please’ at the end.

“When you look at some of the other drivers who have been super vocal, almost abusive, their engineers have taken batterings for years, and mine didn’t even take a battering.

“There are a couple of individuals that were quite rude on how we spoke. 

“It’s something you learn along the way. From race to race, we’re going to get stronger together, and that’s the most important part.”

Hamilton went on to say how he and Adami are cordially building up a rapport.

“Ultimately, we’re literally just getting to know each other,” he said.

“So afterwards I’m like: ‘hey bro, I don’t need that bit of information but if you want to give me this, this is the place I’d like to do it’. 

“This is how I’m feeling in the car and, at these points, this is when I do and don’t need the information’.

“That’s what it’s about. There are no issues, it’s done with a smiley face and we move forwards.”

Hamilton to change Ferrari approach in China

Radio communication wasn’t the only thing Hamilton is acclimating to as he learned the ropes of working with his wider Ferrari team and the SF-25 machine itself.

After an uninspiring run to 10th in his Ferrari debut, the seven-time champion revealed he will be trying a different approach at the Shanghai International Circuit.

“We’re just going to set the car up a bit different this weekend,” he said. 

“I’m still having to take a viewing seat how the team operates. 

“It was the first weekend to see how they operate on the race weekend, which is different to testing, how they like to set the car up, the changes they like to make during the weekends.

“As I get more and more comfortable and more knowledgeable about the car, I can start making more decisions, and say, ‘actually, this is the set-up change I want to go with’.

“Already this weekend I’m having those discussions, and gonna lean a little bit more with adding my experience.”

READ MORE – Lewis Hamilton ready to ‘rebuild’ Ferrari amid F1 title vow

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Lando Norris has bemoaned the Netflix fly-on-the-wall Formula 1 series, Drive to Survive, saying the show’s depiction of his rivalry with Max Verstappen as “fabricated nonsense.”

The World Championship leader has called into question the way the show has depicted his 2024 title battle with the Dutchman, who went on to clinch his fourth successive Drivers’ crown.

In the second episode, Verstappen is portrayed as being significantly unhappy with losing the Miami Grand Prix to Norris, the Brit’s first-ever F1 win.

However, some of the footage used is taken from a moment at the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, when Verstappen lost out on a home win to the McLaren driver.

Speaking ahead of his successful Australian Grand Prix, Norris said the show should take a more truthful tact.

“They need to show the truth about people more,” he said.

“I’m not a fan of fake stuff. I want facts. I don’t want made-up scripts and fabricated nonsense, which there is.

“The portrayal of Max, and how we were against each other so much, they don’t need to create that drama, just show the facts.

“It is almost lying in some ways, and I just don’t think that’s correct. They just jumble up the whole thing and they don’t care when they put it in.

“Maybe it needs to be more of a documentary of the season, more than a show like they’re trying to do. It has drifted too far away.”

Verstappen ‘ignores’ and Russell says he ‘doesn’t care’ how he’s portrayed by Netflix

Verstappen, an outspoken critic of the show, had previously mocked this particular moment in the series, and speaking to media including Motorsport Week in Melbourne, he stated that he tries his best to give it any of his attention.

“I’m not surprised, so… I didn’t watch it,” he said. “It’s just unfortunate you see these things pop up on X, but you just need to quickly ignore it so it doesn’t come up again in your feed.

“No, not blocked [Netflix], because they see that. If you ignore it, then no one knows.”

Fellow Brit George Russell, who completed the podium with Norris and Verstappen at Albert Park, appeared to echo Verstappen’s chosen ignorance of the show.

“I’ve got to be honest, I’ve not seen the episode in full … and I was fed back it was two extremes from the first half to the last half,” he told media including Motorsport Week.

“But ultimately, I don’t really care how I’m portrayed there, I care about how I perform in the car and how I work with my team, to be honest.

“There’s always an agenda for the best storyline possible and that’s just the way of the world with these entertainment programmes, as I said I haven’t even seen it and it’s not something that concerns me.”

READ MORE: Lando Norris makes ominous vow to F1 rivals over McLaren’s 2025 potential

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McLaren CEO Zak Brown has predicted that reigning Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen will decide to leave Red Bull to move to Mercedes for the 2026 campaign.

The Dutchman’s prospects have provided much speculation since tension behind the seats coincided with Red Bull sustaining a downturn in competitiveness in 2024.

With Lewis Hamilton signing with Ferrari, Verstappen’s name was bandied about as Mercedes boss Toto Wolff’s leading target to replace the seven-time F1 champion.

However, with Verstappen insisting that he would be remaining with Red Bull in 2025, Mercedes promoted Andrea Kimi Antonelli to the seat alongside George Russell.

Verstappen, though, has been linked with a possible move to Aston Martin, with reports claiming that a deal worth $1 billion could see him reunite with Adrian Newey.

But Brown, who has spearheaded McLaren’s renaissance to eclipse Red Bull as the benchmark in the sport, is convinced Verstappen will make a switch to Mercedes.

“Oh I think he’ll leave at the end of this year, most likely to Merc,” Brown told The Telegraph.

“There’s been talk of Aston Martin, too, with Adrian Newey joining.

“But as great as Adrian is – and he’s the greatest ever – you need a whole team around you. You need the culture. That takes time.

“If I was betting, I’d bet on Merc.”

Brown highlighted how the suspicion that Mercedes has an edge with work on the next-generation power units coming in 2026 could be enough to entice Verstappen.

“In the last 10 years, they’ve won the championship seven or eight times,” he pinpointed. “Last year they won five races. They have stability.

“We know Toto likes him.

“And I think we all feel HPP [Mercedes High Performance Powertrains] is best equipped on the power unit side heading into the new engine regulations next year.

“Plus, George is out of contract at the end of this season and Kimi will be on a series of one-years.”

Mercedes performance key to future Verstappen move?

The contractual situation of both Mercedes drivers could come into play, should Brown’s assertion that Verstappen is likely to join the team be correct.

Antonelli has kickstarted his F1 car in impressive fashion, overturning a lowly grid place at the season-opener in Melbourne to finishing in fourth, navigating his way through the tricky, changeable conditions to stay on the road and finish one place behind Russell, who completed the podium.

The Italian’s progress will be watched closely, and will be keen to repay the faith shown in him by Wolff, who chose him to fill the seismic gap left by Hamilton.

Russell has performed admirably in his time with the team, since joining from Williams in 2022.

In three seasons, the Kings Lynn man has finished above Hamilton in the Drivers’ standings twice, being the first team-mate of the seven-time champion to do so.

Depending on the competitiveness of the W16, Russell will be surely expected to return more wins this year.

An additional factor at play could be his relationship with Verstappen, which took a contentious turn last year at the Qatar Grand Prix, in which an alleged incident involving the stewards, who stripped him of pole position, left him saying he had “lost respect” for Russell, who then rebuked Verstappen’s attitude in media interviews after the event.

However, such speculation may be academic, as Wolff has said Verstappen was “not on any radar” for the team.

READ MORE – Max Verstappen ‘not on Mercedes radar’ as George Russell contract talks loom

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Max Verstappen has admitted Red Bull has “a lot of work to do” to be in contention to win races in the 2025 Formula 1 season based on the team’s deficit to McLaren.

Verstappen started the new campaign on the podium as he came home in second place, less than one second behind Lando Norris in a chaotic Australian Grand Prix.

However, the eventual margin at the end flattered Red Bull’s competitiveness as intermittent rain and multiple Safety Car interventions eliminated the lead Norris held.

Having passed Oscar Piastri at the start, Verstappen split the McLarens until struggles with tyre degradation triggered a mistake as he ran deep at Turn 11 on Lap 17.

The Dutchman proceeded to spurn time at an alarming rate as he dropped 18 seconds behind until Fernando Alonso’s crash on Lap 34 neutralised proceedings again.

Despite being satisfied with the result, Verstappen is under no illusion that Red Bull isn’t in a position to challenge McLaren on merit with the RB21 in its current guise.

“I think it’s good compared to the teams behind us,” Verstappen told media including Motorsport Week.

“But if you look at the first stint, we were quite a bit off. As soon as the tyres started to overheat, we had no chance. McLaren just took off.

“So, we still have a lot of work to do to fight for a win.

“But yeah, I’m happy that we are second here. It’s basically one place better than we should have been. And it’s 18 more points than I had last year at this race.”

Verstappen denies Red Bull missed chance to win

Verstappen inherited the lead on Lap 44 when a rain shower caused both McLarens to run wide at Turn 12, pitching Piastri into a spin and sending Norris into the pits.

Red Bull elected to leave Verstappen out on slicks across the next two laps, prompting questions about whether the team had missed a golden chance to beat Norris.

However, the reigning F1 champion concurred with Red Bull boss Christian Horner that stopping even a lap earlier wouldn’t have changed his overall finishing position.

“We were on the Medium, and of course, you never know how that’s going to work out,” he explained.

“But I thought it was quite a sensible call with 15, 16, or 20 laps to go when the Safety Car came out.

“Then, of course, it started to rain. I saw them go off in front of me, kept it clean, and when I saw Oscar rejoining, I thought, “Well, let’s stay out,” because it was only those three corners.

“The rest was still dry. When I continued, basically, the first two sectors were fine – it was just if I could survive the final sector. I think that lap I did was okay.

“If there wasn’t much more rain coming, I thought it could work.

“You also have to factor in that even if they caught me on an Inter, they’d have to box again for slicks, if it’s not going to rain anymore.

“So, it was fine. I thought, “We’ll do another lap,” but then, unfortunately, on that lap, the first sector was still okay-ish, but then in Sector 2, it started to rain a bit too much and we had to box.

“But in hindsight, it wouldn’t have mattered. If I’d boxed with Lando, it would have been P2. If I’d boxed the next lap, it would have been P2. And the lap that I did box, I was also P2.

“So, we tried something else—it might have worked. In a way, it didn’t work, but we didn’t lose any position, so it’s fine.”

Verstappen powerless to mount Norris attack

Verstappen denied he could have overtaken Norris with the late pressure he applied, citing the damp conditions made it impossible to venture outside the racing line.

Questioned on whether he was wishing there was one more lap, Verstappen retorted: “No, not so much, to be honest.

“I just tried my best, tried to be close, tried to put a bit of pressure on, but it’s very hard to pass around here. There was only one line.

“Even if I had gotten a run into whatever, Turn 9, you have to go onto the wet part, so you can’t really do a lot. But at least it was close. It looked good on TV!”

READ MORE – Red Bull highlights ‘quite strange’ McLaren advantage in F1 2025

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Lando Norris kicked off the 2025 Formula 1 season with victory at the Australian Grand Prix, but he was made to sweat in the final few laps with Max Verstappen hot on his heels.

The McLaren racing driver led from pole position to take the fifth victory of his career, as he laid down a statement win over his title rivals for 2025.

In tricky wet-weather conditions, Norris was untroubled for the majority of the Grand Prix – his team-mate Oscar Piastri failing to get by.

The British driver handled the transition to dry tyres, but as the rain returned, he experienced an off-moment at Turn 13 before pitting to revert back onto a set of intermediate tyres.

Amidst the chaos, Norris and McLaren made the right call.

However, after Verstappen’s gamble to stay out longer did not pay off, the Dutchman applied the pressure to Norris late on as his tyres faded, and he ran wide at Turn 6.

But Norris held on for the victory in Melbourne, discussing his thoughts after the race on when the Red Bull driver appeared in his mirrors.

“So, I knew Max would be quicker in those last few laps, and I knew he would risk more because there were only a few laps left,” he told media including Motorsport Week.

“I did make a mistake at Turn 6 – I just put a wheel on the gravel and lost all my momentum and drive.

“Max got within DRS, and DRS really helped him stay there.

“It’s tough because it’s not just the pressure of him being there, it’s the pressure of knowing that if I put a wheel too close to a white line on entry, I’m off.

“If I clip the kerb wrong in Turn 6, I’m off.

“If I dip a wheel in the gravel, I get a bad run and he’s past.

“There are so many little things that can go wrong.

Papaya squad eases Norris’ worries

It’s no secret that in 2024, the pressure got to Norris when he was sprung into a title fight with the multiple World Champion, Verstappen.

He lacked experience, and it became evident that he was not able to convert McLaren’s pace into a championship-winning season.

Yet after a season of learnings for both the team and the driver, which sees Norris return as a race winner, the 24-year-old appears ready to take the next step.

Continuing to explain the pressure he felt during the final laps of the Grand Prix, he revealed the role his race engineer Will Joseph and Andrew Jarvis played in helping him handle the nerves.

“[I was] just trying to concentrate on not locking up, not rear locking, not hitting the kerbs wrong, but still trying to go quicker than before because the guy behind is doing the same,” Norris added.

“It was stressful – I’m not going to lie, I was checking my mirrors a lot.

“Even Will came on the radio and told me to chill out a bit.

“He knows, and Jarv [Andrew Jarvis], my performance engineer, knows very quickly from my driving when I’m pushing too much or when I’m pushing the entries too much.

“They’re quick to jump in and say, ‘do this better’ or ‘watch out for that’ because they know what I struggle with.

“Especially in a situation like that.”

Norris: Verstappen can handle the pressure better

The Bristol-born racing driver went into detail as to why he suffered so much in the latter stages of the Grand Prix.

“The thing is, I knew I was going to struggle a bit because I put the Inters on two laps before Max, and with half the track still being dry, I pushed,” he stated.

“Even the high-speed was dry, so I kind of destroyed my tyres a little.

“The front tyres – you could see the rubber was already rolling over on the edges.

“I knew my pace advantage wouldn’t be as much as at the beginning of the race.

“At the very beginning, when it was wettest, Max was just as quick as us.

“As it dried, we got a lot quicker, and Red Bull started to struggle.”

Whilst he conceded that Verstappen is better at handling these types of scenarios, Norris remained positive after he held on for the victory.

“That situation was new for me,” he said.

“I’ve never led a race with five laps to go with Max behind me, trying to put me under pressure in these conditions.

“Maybe Max has had that a few times – he’s raced against Lewis [Hamilton] a lot and can deal with it better than I can.

“For me, it was a first, so it was about seeing how I handled it when I got there.

“I’m happy I got through it and stayed calm.

“It’s something I improved from last year.”

READ MORE: McLaren reveals Lando Norris won F1 Australian GP with ‘badly damaged’ floor

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Max Verstappen has admitted he isn’t expecting “miracles” in Formula 1‘s Australian Grand Prix, despite Red Bull’s “surprise” turnaround landing him third on the grid.

Having laboured to fifth and seventh in the opening two practice hours at the Albert Park Circuit, Verstappen issued a downbeat assessment on Red Bull’s prospects.

However, the team’s overnight changes to the set-up provided an instant improvement to the car in Verstappen’s hands as he placed third in the final practice session.

The Dutchman then capitalised on both McLaren drivers making mistakes on their initial attempts in Q3 to be on provisional pole heading into the last qualifying runs.

But despite bettering his own time, Verstappen was unable to thwart McLaren as Lando Norris led a front-row lockout with over three-tenths in hand over the Red Bull.

Nevertheless, Verstappen was satisfied with Red Bull’s recovery to salvage third, though he acknowledged that the RB21 is still lacking the outright speed of McLaren.

“We had a bit of a tough start,” Verstappen told media including Motorsport Week.

“This has never really been a good track to us I think as well, so it took a bit of time to understand how we can improve the situation, and we did that today.

“I’m quite surprised to be sitting here [in the press conference] after yesterday!

“I felt confident. I felt one with the car. Of course, clearly it was lacking a bit of pace, but overall, happy with the laps in qualifying.

“We were just trying to fine-tune the balance, and the car just came alive a little bit more in general, it was quite OK to drive because it was too slow.

“Today it was a little bit faster, but clearly still not fast enough. But still, to be ahead of Ferrari and Mercedes I think is good for us.”

Red Bull still not on McLaren’s level

Verstappen insisted going into the season-opening event that Red Bull wasn’t competitive enough to rival McLaren based on what had occurred in pre-season testing.

Looking ahead to the race, the reigning F1 champion has reiterated that claim even bearing in mind the strides that Red Bull has made to enhance the RB21’s balance.

“I don’t expect like any kind of miracles about it, I think [our long-run pace] is OK,” Verstappen, who hasn’t been headed in the Drivers’ Championship since 2022, said.

“But I think it’s not on the same level [as McLaren]. I’ll just do my best to see what happens tomorrow.”

READ MORE – Max Verstappen ‘not on Mercedes radar’ as George Russell contract talks loom

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McLaren CEO Zak Brown has revealed how the team’s desire “to explore the market” in Formula 1 extended to probing about Max Verstappen’s contract situation at Red Bull.

Earlier this week, the Woking-based squad announced that Oscar Piastri had put pen to paper on a fresh contract to commit to the reigning champions on a long-term deal.

Piastri’s extension has ensured McLaren has locked down the pairing that delivered the Constructors’ Championship in 2024, as Lando Norris renewed over 12 months ago.

Brown explained the timing of the deal, saying it was necessary to remove “distractions” to allow Piastri to perform at a higher level.

“We know we want to have stability and visibility moving forward,” Brown told select media including Motorsport Week. 

“That puts everyone in a great frame of mind and I think obviously people perform at their optimum levels of performance when they’re not distracted.”

Red Bull has shown an interest in Norris and Piastri amid persistent speculation that the upheaval behind the scenes last term could encourage Verstappen to move elsewhere.

Mercedes is well-known for having courted the Dutchman since then, while Aston Martin has also been touted as a plausible destination should he opt to depart Red Bull.

But according to De Telegraaf, Brown had “some time ago” approached the Verstappen camp to enquire about the Dutchman’s future availability.

Verstappen is contracted with Red Bull through 2028 and it is widely believed he has several performances clauses in his deal that would allow him to cut ties with the Milton Keynes-based squad early.

The Dutchman has never made noise wanting an exit, however, and it’s believed Brown’s call was only “to explore the market”.

Signing Piastri for what could be the majority of the decade would suggest Brown’s interest in Verstappen was limited at best.

McLaren opted for ‘stability’ with Piastri renewal

McLaren locking Piastri down to such a lengthy deal on the eve of the season suggests that Brown’s exploration of the driver market yielded little if any reason to snatch a driver from a rival team.

Indeed, Andrea Stella said that Piastri’s deal speaks to a long-term vision of “stability” within McLaren’s ranks.

“I would say renewing Oscar onto a longer-term deal, seen from my point of view, that was, as a decision, simple, natural, and to some extent, consequential,” Stella said.

“Consequential to the vision Zak and I have for the team, which is a vision that looks at stability for the long term and looks at creating the conditions to perform, to be competitive. 

“And for us, having Lando and Oscar on board is one of the fundamental conditions to be competitive. 

“And it has already paid off immensely, because it’s thanks to having Lando and Oscar on board that we are the first garage, actually here we are the last garage, but the first position in the paddock, because they’ve been able to deliver 27 podiums, 8 victories, 11 pole positions, considering races and Sprints, and ultimately the World Championship.”

READ MORE – Max Verstappen hits back at McLaren F1 CEO Zak Brown with ‘failed’ career remark

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Max Verstappen’s Formula 1 title defence is off to a less than ideal start with Red Bull at the Australian Grand Prix.

Second practice on Friday at the Albert Park circuit was a test up and down the grid to see how teams would fare in low-fuel qualifying simulations and Red Bull couldn’t match the likes of McLaren or Ferrari.

Verstappen struggled with grip in his RB21, prompting a series of set-up tweaks in the garage which came too late to avail him of his standing of seventh in FP2, some six tenths off of the pace. 

“To be honest, the balance wasn’t even completely out,” Verstappen said post-session. “No massive or major problems.

“But somehow, the grip was not coming alive. I was just struggling on all four tyres, really, in Sector 1 and the last sector. 

“That means, of course, that we are not really up there at the moment.”

Alarmingly, that makes Red Bull’s issues harder to cure.

“The problem is that it’s not really like I have major balance problems,” Verstappen explained. “I think it will be a bit hard to fix.

“It’s also nothing that I didn’t expect when I arrived here. I’m not positively or negatively surprised with the pace we are showing.

“We just have to make sure that we find a bit more pace, but at the moment we are definitely lacking a bit to fight up front.”

Liam Lawson admits he’s ‘too slow’

On the other side of the Red Bull garage, Lawson has the uneenviable task of improving at a rate that makes him worthy of the seat alongside Verstappen.

A tall order for any driver and undoubtedly Lawson will need time to get to grips with the RB21.

The New Zealander finished 17th in FP2 and six tenths back from his team-mate, admitting the need to improve.

“[I’m] comfortable [in the car] – just too slow,” he said. 

“We obviously have a lot of work to do overnight.

“Day one, on a new track, we were expecting to have some work to do, but probably not this much. 

“We’ll work on it overnight and then try and improve it for tomorrow.”

Explaining the issues, Lawson said, “In general, just grip when we need to use it on that short run, but then in general our long run pace was slow as well. We’ll work on it.”

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