Red Bull struggled at the Chinese Grand Prix and even Max Verstappen was only able to finish fourth having been left unable to challenge the mighty McLarens for victory
Max Verstappen has refuted one of his chief’s claims that he was “too cautious” during the Chinese Grand Prix. The Dutchman was largely anonymous throughout the Shanghai race and ended up finishing fourth, without ever having challenged for a spot on the podium.
Data after the race showed that he lost ground over the course of the first stint with the medium tyres. Once he had made his pit stop to switch to the harder, more durable rubber, he was largely able to match the pace of the cars in front him including the McLarens that dominated.
Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko referred to that trend as he suggested that Verstappen may have dropped further back than he needed to because of the higher tyre degradation experienced in the sprint race a day earlier, compared to the Grand Prix.
The Austrian said: “In the second stint with the hard tyre we were as fast as the leaders. We lost the race because of the first stint with the medium tyre. Maybe there was still the idea in Max’s head that the medium tyre was quite vulnerable as it was in the sprint race. Maybe he was too cautious because of that.”
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But Verstappen had a different view on how his race panned out. “To be honest, I think the first stint actually worked out quite nicely for me, because my pace anyway was not up to their [McLaren/Ferrari/Russell] standard,” he said.
“So to be immediately behind them was better probably because I just drove my own pace as we set out to do. In the previous sprint and in Australia, we tried to fight and we degraded the tyres very aggressively. I just wanted to do my own pace and look after the tyres, but at the moment that’s not at the level of others around me.
“Then, on the hard tyre, I think it got a little bit better. In the beginning of that stint, no, I was still struggling for pace and they drove away. But then at the end the grip came to me and we seemed to be a little bit more quicker.”
Meanwhile, Red Bull have a more pressing issue on their hands with the other car. Verstappen continues to at least score regular points despite their drop in competitiveness compared to their rivals, but new team-mate Liam Lawson is floundering.
The Kiwi has yet to score a point in 2025 and has not progressed from Q1 in any of the three qualifying sessions he has taken part in. Red Bull are set to hold an emergency meeting to decide whether to replace Lawson for the next race, the Japanese Grand Prix, with Racing Bulls driver Yuki Tsunoda poised to step in.
Mirror Sport understands no decision has yet been taken, but it looks increasingly likely that a swap will happen. Lawson was promoted to that seat despite having started just 11 Formula 1 races prior to the start of this season while Tsunoda, entering his fifth year on the grid, was overlooked.
