Will Max Verstappen keep his mouth shut if the Red Bull RB21 fails to meet expectations?

Max Verstappen has admitted that Red Bull have “too much work to do” to stop McLaren winning next weekend’s Australian Grand Prix, the opening race of the F1 2025 season.

After claiming a first Constructors’ title in 26 years in 2024, McLaren solidified their status as the team to beat at last week’s pre-season test in Bahrain, where the MCL39 proved fast and reliable over three days.

Max Verstappen admits Red Bull can’t catch McLaren before Australian GP

According to PlanetF1.com’s best guess regarding the initial pecking order, based on conversations with teams up and down the paddock as well as from watching the cars trackside in Bahrain, McLaren are set to start the F1 2025 campaign with the quickest car with Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari all battling behind.

Verstappen claimed a fourth consecutive World Championship last season, seeing off the threat of McLaren driver Lando Norris to wrap up the title with two races to spare.

However, Verstappen had to overcome a 10-race winless streak – his longest barren run in four years – to secure the Championship after Red Bull lost their way with the development of the RB20 car.

With the Red Bull RB21 carrying a striking resemblance to its predecessor, technical director Pierre Waché admitted at the conclusion of the Bahrain test that he is “not as happy as [he] could be” at this stage of the season.

Waché revealed that the RB21 “did not respond how we wanted at times”, a common complaint of the 2024 car, raising doubts over how much Red Bull have improved since the end of last season.

He went on to add that while the team are heading in the right direction with development, “the magnitude of the direction was not as big as we expected.”

Verstappen has tasted victory at the last two season openers, kicking off his title defences with wins in Bahrain in 2023 and 2024.

Speaking at an event organised by broadcaster Viaplay ahead of the F1 2025 curtain raiser, however, the reigning World Champion conceded that McLaren are the favourites heading to Melbourne’s Albert Park.

He said: “[There is] work to do.

“I think McLaren is the favourite if you look at the lap times. And for us not everything went completely smoothly.

“On the other hand, I think we do have some ideas on how to improve the car. I’ve also spent a lot of time in the simulator – for example, yesterday – with the team.

“I don’t think we can compete for victory in Melbourne, but hopefully we will be able to make improvements within a few races.

“It’s never good enough, of course, but I think we expected a tiny bit more from it ourselves.

“After the test, you do have time to go through the data and come to certain conclusions.

“But as I said, I think we do need to improve some things.”

Verstappen’s comments come after George Russell, the Mercedes driver, also highlighted McLaren as the team to beat.

Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com in Bahrain, Russell revealed that Norris had told him that McLaren have “found a lot” of laptime over the winter with the new MCL39 car.

Asked to submit a prediction for the new season, Russell said: “I think McLaren are going to be pretty strong.

“Lando said they found a lot over the winter and he’s looking pretty confident.”

A poor start to the season for Red Bull would likely raise further questions surrounding the future of Verstappen amid rumoured interest from the likes of Mercedes and Aston Martin.

Although Verstappen is under contract with Red Bull until the end of the 2028 season, team principal Christian Horner confirmed to media including PlanetF1.com last year that Verstappen’s deal contains a “performance element”, potentially allowing him to leave if Red Bull fail to provide a competitive car.

It has been speculated that Verstappen will be free to trigger an exit clause if he is lower than third in the Drivers’ standings after a significant part of the F1 2025 season has been completed.

If true, this arrangement would appear to mirror a clause widely reported to have been included in at least one of Verstappen’s previous Red Bull contracts.

Guenther Steiner, the former Haas team principal, recently warned that Verstappen could become “very difficult” for Red Bull to manage if the RB21 fails to meet his expectations.

Steiner told CNN: “I would say last year, when he started not to win, he reacted pretty aggressively.

“But then at some stage, I think he realised: ‘I need to be smart about this and just take home as many points as I can, even if I’m not winning a race.’

“So we need to see which Max we get.

“But for sure, if he hasn’t got a good car where he can win, he will get very difficult to manage as well, I would say, because he will be vocal about it that he’s not happy.

“And an unhappy Max is not a nice Max, as we all know.

“But he’s a very good driver, I think the best at the moment.

“And for sure, he will put his effort in to win races, to win the championship again. But it will not be easy, as we saw last year.”

Asked what he would say to Verstappen to keep him focused on winning the title, Steiner replied: “Stay calm, but don’t throw the toys out of the pram after two races if it doesn’t go your way.

“‘If it is not [going] our way at the beginning of the season, we need to work hard to get back where we want to be, because getting impatient and complaining doesn’t help a team, doesn’t put the team together, and obviously that is what you need when you’re not competitive.

“But first of all, I would say: ‘Just let’s wait to see where we are at and then we see where we want to go, and where we can go.’”