F1 News
Where do Red Bull stack up for 2025? 'We have a lot of work to do'
Max Verstappen is not sure what to expect from the 2025 Formula 1 season but hopes to once again be in the world title fight. The Dutchman sees a positive in the fact that Red Bull has more wind tunnel time in comparison to constructors title winner McLaren, with development over the winter being key to Red Bull's 2025 chances.
It's once again expected that 2024's four race-winning teams (McLaren, Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes) will compete closely once again in 2025. This year's world champion, Max Verstappen, thinks that it's too early to suggest which teams will be fastest. "It's difficult to say, it depends a lot on how you develop throughout the winter. Of course, I hope to be in that fight, but we have a lot of work to do for sure," the Dutchman explained to GPblog and other media present in the paddock of the Yas Marina Circuit.
Verstappen: 'I guess its a positive'
Max Verstappen managed to secure the driver's title in Las Vegas, mainly due to his great form at the start of the year, where he won seven of the first 10 races. It wasn't the best year for Red Bul as a team, however. They finished third and missed out on the chance of their third consecutive world title win. Surprisingly, there's an advantage to this for the Milton Keynes-based team. Simply, the team will be given a little bit more time in the wind tunnel. "We have, I guess, a positive. We won the drivers’, didn't win the constructors’, so we gained a bit of wind tunnel time, in a way, maybe that's positive," Verstappen explained.
Teams who finish lower down the order are provided with more wind tunnel time to keep competitiveness across the grid. For example, Kick Sauber finished on just four points and in last place but will have the most opportunity to use the wind tunnel, whilst 2024 winners McLaren will have much less time available to them.
Verstappen is relieved to see the RB20 go:
It was another difficult day in 2204 for Red Bull in Abu Dhabi. Sergio Perez, in what might be his last start for the team, retired from damage suffered on lap one. Max Verstappen made contact with Oscar Pisatri in the first corner and was given a 10-second stop-and-go penalty by the stewards. The Dutchman worked his way to sixth after all the drama. "It was pretty... How do you say it? Mediocre, I would say. The tyres were overheating, so I couldn't really attack anything, and that was it." Verstappen concluded, reaffirming his desire to see his unpredictable 2024 challenger put in the museum, to never return again.
This article was written in collaboration with Nicole Mulder
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