Red Bull has insisted that the team hasn’t adopted a “defeatist” approach towards the Formula 1 title in 2025, despite a scheduled meeting about the gap to McLaren.
The Austrian squad endured a challenging weekend in China as Max Verstappen crossed the line more than 16 seconds behind Oscar Piastri’s race-winning McLaren.
Verstappen had been pessimistic regarding Red Bull’s prospects going into the race and that was realised as he lost touch with the leading group in the opening stint.
However, the Dutchman came alive in the closing stages and, once Lewis Hamilton had pitted, he reeled in Charles Leclerc in the sister Ferrari to salvage fourth place.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner has admitted the team must understand what inspired the sudden increase in grip that facilitated Verstappen’s late charge in the RB21.
“Well, I think that first stint was where we gave away all the time,” Horner told Sky Sports F1.
“Max came in for the pit stop, what 18 seconds behind Oscar [Piastri], and at the chequered flag, he was 16 seconds behind.
“So, on the Hard tyre, we were pretty competitive. So, I think we need to understand… maybe we overcompensated based on the degradation we saw yesterday.
“For sure, we need to find a little bit more pace, then just life is easier. But he drove another great race today.
“The pass on Charles, he caught the Ferraris, he passed Charles. And yeah, a fourth-place finish and important points, but we know we’ve still got plenty to do.”
Could Red Bull have salvaged China podium?
Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko suspects Verstappen’s tentativeness in the opening exchanges derived from his concern about the tyre degradation seen in the Sprint.
“On the Hard tyre we were as fast as the frontrunners,” Marko told Sky Germany.
“We lost the race with the first set of Mediums, the start was also a bit unfortunate when Max fell back, and maybe it was still in his head that the Mediums were relatively vulnerable and that he took it too easy.
“When we brought him in, he was still quick, and in the end we were as fast as the front runners, we caught up with Leclerc but it was too late.
“With a successful start, without losing two places and with more speed in the first stint, we could have finished on the podium.”
Red Bull to hold meeting prior to Japan
Marko has revealed that Red Bull will capitalise on the break until the next round in Japan to hold an urgent meeting to discuss how it can close McLaren’s advantage.
“This week there is a meeting in Milton Keynes to discuss when and how we can close the gap,” the Austrian added.
“Until then, it’s about scoring as many points as possible.
“We are worried, but it is not like we are throwing in the towel.”
Red Bull not giving up McLaren chase
Liam Lawson’s scoreless return has consigned Red Bull to being 42 points down on McLaren inside two rounds, but Verstappen lies eight points behind Lando Norris.
Horner is adamant Red Bull boasts the personnel and resources to catch McLaren as he commended Verstappen’s commitment to transcending the side’s prospects.
When asked whether Red Bull had accepted that it could be McLaren’s season in 2025, Horner retorted: “It’s race two. It can’t be that defeatist.
“I mean, we’re eight points behind in the Drivers’ Championship after two races and there’s everything to play for.
“If nothing else, last year teaches you, you can start as strong as you like, it’s how you finish. And, look, we’ve got great strength in our team.
“Everybody in the company knows we’ve got a bit of pace to fight. We’ve got the tools, we’ve got the people in order to do that. It’s just unpicking it.
“I think we’ve got some very good data out of today.
“Max is working harder than I’ve ever seen him. He’s more integrated into the engineering group than I’ve ever seen. As he said, he seems to be enjoying that aspect.
“So he’s not getting super stressed. He’s of course, like any driver, impatient [with] performance.
“But he’s working with the engineers to say, OK, what about this? What about this? This is what I’m experiencing as a driver. This is where I need the lap time from.
“That’s the only way collectively that we’re going to get performance.”
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