Where Red Bull sits in the current F1 pecking order is a hotly-debated topic heading into the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. Therefore, how its champion driver Max Verstappen will fare in the early weeks of the campaign is a particularly contentious matter. The Milton Keynes squad is giving the impression it is not all that sure itself, with technical director Pierre Waché expecting a close battle amongst the leading four teams . In extension of the downcast projections of how Red Bull is shaping up, pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit - which saw heavily disrupted running for the six-time constructors' champions - failed to provide much empirical evidence to devise a pecking order from. In the latest episode of the RacingNews365.com podcast, lead editor Ian Parkes suggested Red Bull may have fallen as far as fifth, behind Williams, in terms of outright pace. However, how Verstappen and rookie team-mate Liam Lawson handle the potential idiosyncrasies of the RB21 could be starkly different and the Dutchman may produce something at out nothing once F1 reaches Melbourne, as he so often did throughout the 2024 campaign. That championship is regarded by many to be the best of his four, given his metronomic consistency and penchant for salvaging the maximum possibility result on a difficult weekend. In step with that, in their predictions for the top five at Albert Park, both Ian and F1 journalist Samuel Coop said Verstappen would finish the season-opening round in fifth place, whilst host Nick Golding did not place the 27-year-old inside his top five. Where do you think Max Verstappen will finish in the Australian Grand Prix? Let us know in the comments and by voting below in the latest RacingNews365 poll. Also, you can listen to the most recent episode of the RacingNews365.com podcast further down the page - or streaming platforms such as Spotify and YouTube .
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