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Revealed: How Red Bull achieved ‘marked improvement’ in perfor
Runner-up to Oscar Piastri in Saudi Arabia, Helmut Marko says “various factors” played a part in Max Verstappen’s performance with the standout being the setup of the RB21.
Red Bull have had an uncertain start to the F1 2025 season and Verstappen’s title defence, the RB21 second to McLaren’s MCL39 on the track.
Various factors’ behind Red Bull’s Saudi gains
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
It has meant that while Verstappen has three podium results to his name, including a victory at the Japanese Grand Prix, Red Bull have acknowledged the car’s weaknesses.
“Our car is simply not balanced,” Red Bull motorsport advisor Marko told Sky Deutschland after Verstappen’s P6 in Bahrain where he was 34 seconds behind race winner Oscar Piastri.
“We don’t know where exactly the worm is. I guess it’s mainly the aerodynamics.”
The team has also suffered, as Marko put it, “Black Fridays”, the Austrian adding: “Our Friday practice sessions are far away from good and evil. We’re struggling to get the car halfway right for qualifying.
“If you have more organised practice, then you could find out on Friday, for example. We have to change a lot.”
More on Max Verstappen’s Saudi GP weekend
“I think that was the best Friday for quite a big while,” Red Bull’s Helmut Marko told media including PlanetF1.com. “We made different set-ups and, for the qualifying lap, it’s working. We are much closer to the McLarens.”
Verstappen went on to secure pole position on the Saturday, out-pacing Piastri by one-hundredth of a second, before racing his way to second in the grand prix having incurred a five-second time penalty for gaining a lasting advantage off the track in his Turn 1 battle with the McLaren driver.
“The positive is,” Marko said after the race, “we had the pace, tyre wear was under control. But once again, you could see just how difficult overtaking is. After the penalty, we focused on securing P2.”
