Max Verstappen believes that a big Red Bull flaw could be uncovered in the Bahrain Grand Prix, giving McLaren an advantage.
Verstappen is now second in the drivers’ standings, trailing only McLaren’s Lando Norris by one point following a dramatic shock victory at the Japanese Grand Prix, where he carried the unfancied RB21 to victory ahead of Norris and Oscar Piastri.
The race was aided by a consistent absence of tire deterioration from the Pirelli rubber on the recently resurfaced Suzuka track, while Bahrain’s Sakhir layout presents a different challenge.
The track has never been resurfaced since it was laid prior to the track’s 2004 debut, making it brittle and eating into tires, which is exacerbated by the circuit’s severe traction zones.
Red Bull has appeared to struggle with tyre degradation thus far in 2025, with the world champion believing the vulnerability that “destroyed” Red Bull in Australia could return this weekend.
“It will be more severe, I mean in the first stint in Australia, we got destroyed with overheating and tyre degradation in general, the same in China, and I would say to a certain extent in Suzuka,” Verstappen said when asked about Red Bull’s tyre degradation concerns by RacingNews365.
“But you couldn’t pass, and Lando was closing in at the end of the first stint, which I knew was going to happen, but I was just driving at my own pace, and the track temperature fell quite a bit on the day, which helped a little.
“Of course, it’s going to be hot here; we drive at night so it cools down a little, but it’s still hot with abrasive tarmac, which, based on what we’ve seen so far this season, isn’t ideal for us in comparison to McLaren.
“But it is up to us to try and find those improvements in the car and tyre behaviour.”
Red Bull was historically known for its ability to perform well in hot conditions, but Verstappen believes that previous car qualities are not guaranteed.
“Cars change, people evolve, teams evolve, right?,” he went on.
“So whatever happened in 2023 is not the same anymore.”
