The results from the opening rounds of the 2025 season are not exactly what Red Bull and Max Verstappen were hoping for. With just one win in four Grand Prix the Formula One drivers’ champion is enduring his worst start to a year in terms of victories since the epic season that was 2021.

Then Lewis Hamilton won three of the first four Grand Prix, with Verstappen’s single visit to the top step of the podium coming at the Emilia Romagne race weekend. Of course this was to become an epic season long duel which resulted in the Dutch driver becoming F1 world champion for the first time.

Yet even back in 2021, Max finished second in the three races he failed to win and he remained P2 in drivers’ championship table as the F1 circus headed to the fifth round in Monaco. The current dominant McLaren car now sees both their drivers in the top spots, with Oscar Piastri making up for his costly error in Australia by securing two victories in China and last time out in Bahrain.

 

 

 

Talk of Verstappen exit clause

Just eight points separate Norris from Verstappen in third as the F1 circus heads to Saudi Arabia this weekend. There’s been a lot of paddock chatter this week, suggesting Verstappen has an exit clause in his Red Bull contract which come the summer break he can exercise.

A consensus appears to have formed that the key performance indicator which would allow the world champion to cancel his contract which runs to 2028 should he lie lower than third in the drivers’ title race come the F1 summer break in August.

Theres a lot of talk about a Red Bull cores which was exacerbated  in Bahrain as the pit crew’s usual top drawer efficiency turned into chaos. For Verstappen’s first stop the light which tells the driver he is good to leave his box, failed to turn green, which proved to be costly as the Red Bull driver emerged behind the slower Alpine of Esteban Ocon.

Max toiled away behind the pink liveried car until Alpine decided it was time to pit Ocon for fresh rubber. Then lightening struck twice as on his second tyre change Max suffered a problem with a front right wheel that had made itself at home on his car. Al in all these problems proved costly with Max finishing in just P6, behind the two Ferrari’s which simulations show would have been behind the Red Bull driver had his pit crew not suffered the difficulties they had.

intentions for an F1 team based in Saudi

 

 

 

Lost personnel not the problem

But such is life and racing despite much being made of the fact that ex-Red Bull’s sporting director Jonathan Wheatley was no longer in situe to oversee operations in the Red Bull garage. Red Bull have historically been the best drilled outfit when its comes to the pit stops with many paddock observers suggesting this was down to the influence Wheatley brought to bear.

Yet veteran pit lane reporter Ted Kravitz argues this is nonsense, giving his reasons in the Sky F1 podcast aired mid-week. “Now, of course, cause-effect these things happen. If Jonathan Wheatley was still there would these things be still happening? Probably,” he said.

“The electronics in the pit stop traffic light system don’t know he’s now the Sauber team principal and left. He didn’t spend his evenings making sure the programming of the traffic light system in the pit stops is working and it’s probably nothing on the front-right that Jonathan Wheatley would have done. It’s a coincidence.”

Yet the pit lane crisis Red Bull experienced with both their drivers in Bahrain has added to the narrative there is a crisis within the Milton Keynes based Formula One team. And so to the ‘exit clause’ Verstappen is said to be ready to activate. Will Max be lower than third in the drivers’ championship come the F1 summer break?

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Russell not contending for wins

Currently the top four drivers are within 15 points of each other,  with Charles Leclerc next best but with less than half the points of George Russell who sits six points behind Verstappen in P4. The Mercedes driver has three podiums to his name so far this season and only Lando Norris has made the presentation ceremony at all four Grand Prix so far. 

Yet Russell hasn’t really been in contention for a win. His P3 in Australia was inherited when a driver error from Oscar Piastri saw him spit off in the closing laps of the race. In China the Mercedes driver finished where he started in P3, although this was true for much of the field as the race on Sunday was a processional affair.

Come the Japanese Grand Prix, Russell’s expectations were low as he explained in 2024 “it was probably our worst race of the season.” Having been eclipsed in qualifying by the Mclaren’s and Verstappen, George drover a solid but unexciting race to finish with at the chequered flag.

Last time out in Bahrain, Russell suffered a litany of issues with his car, but a poor qualifying session from Verstappen, Norris and the Ferraris meant he was able to cling on to P2, despite Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc hunting him down towards the end of the race.

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Lower than third?

For Verstappen to finish the first half of the season lower than third it will require George Russell to be ahead of the Red Bull driver. The McLaren pair should be out of sight, but Mercedes are currently enjoying a spell where the Ferrari cars are not a challenge to him.

Max hasn’t finished lower than third place in the drivers’ title race since 2018, his second full season with the Red Bull team. Whilst the RB21 is tricky to drive, in Japan it proved it has the legs to win races whereas the Mercedes remains the bridesmaid and not the bride even in the hands of the new team leader George Russell.

Quietly Red Bull are satisfied with their start top the year, despite arguments erupting between Verstappen’s manager and Dr. Helmut Marko in Bahrain. The team firmly believes their current competition are using flexi wings which make the window of operation much easier to find for the McLaren’s, yet when this is outlawed come the Spanish Grand Prix, the papaya liveried cars will begin to suffer similar issues to Red Bull Racing.

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Four races down, Max is just -8 points

Four racers down and Verstappen is within eight points of championship leader Lando Norris. If this gap doubled over the next four race weekends before the race in Barcelona, Red Bull will be delighted the gap remains less than the points awarded for a race win. With the McLaren duo taking points from each other each weekend this plays into Red Bull and Verstappen’s hands.

Verstappen is focused on achieving something even Lewis Hamilton in his dominant Mercedes car failed to complete. Winning five consecutive titles in a row is something only the great Michael Schumacher has done in F1 history and other remains within the Red Bull driver’s grasp.

The notion that Verstappen has already signed a deal with another team – Mercedes or Aston Martin –  is absurd. As is the talk of him handing his notice in during this year’s Sumer break. Red Bull have a history of being the best F1 team to play catchup during a season and with Verstappen just eight points behind Norris, theres very much all to play for. 

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F1 boss plots ‘catch up’ protocols for failed 2026 engines

F1’s boss proposes DRASTIC measures to quickly change 2026 power regulations – At the 2025 Formula One weekend in Bahrain, there was big trouble discussed by those in charge of the sport. Last June when the FIA announced the final specifications for the all new F1 power units coming on line next season, the boss of the sport, Stefano Domenicali, almost immediately sounded the alarm bells.

Rather than celebrate the next era of F1 power, the ex-Ferrari team boss in bizarre fashion started a debate over how the future of the F1 engines needed to change. “I can imagine that with the next regulations, we could limit ourselves to sustainable fuel. If we are able to show that we produce zero emissions with it, we can focus on other important aspects of sustainability,” said the F1 supremo.

He cited “political” reasons for why the 2026 power units would remain complex and eye waveringly expensive hybrids, with the suggestions that F1’s desperation to attract more manufacturers had handed the keys to the kingdom to the likes of Audi and Mercedes…. READ MORE