Max Verstappen believes a major Red Bull weakness could be exposed in the Bahrain Grand Prix, handing the advantage to McLaren.
Verstappen finds himself in second place in the drivers' standings, just a single point behind McLaren's Lando Norris after a stunning upset Japanese GP success, where he dragged the unfancied RB21 to victory ahead of both Norris and Oscar Piastri.
The race was helped by a chronic lack of tyre degradation from the Pirelli rubber on the newly-resurfaced Suzuka track, but Bahrain's Sakhir layout is a different challenge.
The track has never been resurfaced since it was laid ahead of the 2004 opening of the track, and it therefore brittle and eats into tyres, which is then compounded by the heavy traction zones found around the circuit.
Red Bull has appeared to struggle with tyre degradation thus far in 2025, as the world champion felt the weakness which "destroyed" Red Bull in Australia could come back this weekend.
"It will be more severe, I mean in the first stint in Australia, we got destroyed with the overheating and tyre deg in general, the same in China and I would say to a certain extent in Suzuka," Verstappen responded when asked about Red Bull's tyre degradation concerns by media including RacingNews365.
"But you couldn't pass, and Lando was closing up at the end of the first stint, and I knew that was coming but I was just driving to my own pace, but the track temp dropped quite a bit on the day and that helped a bit.
"Of course, it is going to be hot here, we drive a night so it cools down a bit, but it is still hot with an aggressive tarmac, so on paper from what we've seen so far this season, that's not ideal for us compared to McLaren.
"But it is up to us to try and find those improvements in the car and tyre behaviour."
Performing in hot conditions was previously a strength for Red Bull, but Verstappen feels that previous car traits are not guaranteed.
"Cars change, people evolve, teams evolve, right?," he said.
"So whatever happened in 2023 is not the same anymore."
Also interesting:
Join RacingNews365's Ian Parkes, Sam Coop and Nick Golding, as they reflect on the Japanese Grand Prix and look ahead to Bahrain. Max Verstappen's victory is a major talking point, as is McLaren's serious strategical weakness. Jack Doohan's struggles is also discussed.
Rather watch the podcast? Then click here!
Most read
In this article
Join the conversation!