Hopes for Max Verstappen’s pursuit of a record fifth consecutive Formula One drivers’ championship now hang by a thread. A lack lustre weekend in Mexico saw the world champion manage just third place and lose ten points to Lando Norris has been followed by a poor weekend in Brazil.
Red Bull have continued developing their car long after others have switched their focus to the 2026 cars and for Mexico they modified the revolutionary Monza floor. For Sao Paulo they chose to stick with the car specification run two weeks earlier although Verstappen struggled on Friday in practice and came just sixth in Sprint qualifying.
An early overtake in the Sprint on Fernando Alonso followed by Piastri again crashing out of the race saw Verstappen move into fourth, but lose a further three points to his rival Norris. The performance of the RB21 in the Sprint was not terrible and in the latter part of the race Verstappen was for several laps the quickest car on track.
Red Bull “leap in the dark”
Red Bull then took a massive gamble and a leap in the dark by switching the Mexico floor back to the Monza specification before Grand Prix qualifying later that afternoon. This decision was a disaster as Verstappen on his first run in qualifying could manage just fifteenth which was followed by another limp effort which will see him start the race one place higher than last year in sixteenth place.
In 2024 Verstappen delivered one of the finest charges through the field in recent memory as in treacherous conditions his masterful control of an F1 car saw him claim victory by over twenty seconds. Yet hopes for a repeat in Sao Paulo are small. In 2024 the Red Bull was inherently quick and a red flag and a five place grid stop were the reason Max was to start down in P17.
The RB21 on display in Brazil was not quick in qualifying, which meant only for the seventh time in his career (229 GP starts) Verstappen failed to make it out of Q1. What made matters worse this was the only time he failed to do so for performance reasons only, the other six occasions all feature mechanical failures.
Marko confirms floor change
Dr. Helmut Marko confirmed the decision to revert to a pre-Mexico car specification. “We brought new parts or partially new parts in Mexico, which did not bring the hoped-for success. On that basis we thought we would find the right direction, but that has not been the case now either.”
Reports from Interlagos suggest the Red Bull mechanics were working late into the night, breaking the FIA curfew which cold force the stewards to award Verstappen a grid drop, or the team may elect to start from the pit lane.
The team will surely reverse the reckless decision to ditch the Mexico floor and could even elect to fit an new power train. Whilst the advantage of a new PU in Mexico which is at an elevation of 2200 metres would be greater, the Interlagos circuit is at 800 metres and the extra grunt in the less dense atmosphere could prove an advantage.
The weather forecast for Sunday remains benign in terms of rain, although the gusting winds will prevail. The lack of a wet race will also hamper Verstappen and Dr. Marko believes his hopes of another F1 title are all but over.
“I can’t overtake”: Hamilton resigned in Brazil
Mekies admits two taking “risks”
“It went badly wrong,” the Austrian told Sky DE. “We got slower everywhere. The track got faster and we lost time in all sectors. There was actually even less grip. Why? That’s what we have to find out now. But the harm has been done. Now we’ll see what we can still make of it. But it doesn’t look good.”
The decision made by Mekies and the team reset an unwanted twenty year old record for the Milton Keynes based team. The last time both Red Bull cars were eliminated in Q1 was back at the 2006 Japanese Grand Prix. Mekies has been the golden boy since his arrivals Christian Horner’s replacement, but the decisions in Sao Paulo rank as some of the worst in the team’s collective memory.
“We did take some risks,” team boss Laurent Mekies told Sky Sports F1. “We did significantly change the car, because that’s the sort of risk you have to take, if you want to give yourself a chance to put the car back in a window where it could fight for something bigger than where we were this morning.”
Dr. Helmut Marko suggested more radical action may be required by the team. ”We now have to look at what we’re going to do about this situation. Whether we’ll make further drastic changes, for instance. That would mean starting from the pit lane, but we need to sit down calmly and decide what the best option is.”
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Verstappen baffled
Max for his part appeared baffled by the car he’d been given for qualifying. “I couldn’t push at all,” Verstappen said. “The car was all over the place, sliding around a lot. I had to underdrive it just to keep it on track, which obviously doesn’t work in qualifying. The whole weekend has been tough, but this was unexpected after changing so much on the car. It just didn’t respond — I had no grip out there.”
His team mate Yuki Tsunoda revealed the changes meant the Red Bull drivers couldn’t switch on their tyres. “We made a change in the Sprint, which we thought would help make the car better,” said the Japanese driver. “Max also took the setup I was using, but I don’t want to blame that. The main thing is we didn’t make the tyres work.
“From our side of the garage, we changed a good amount of parts since the Sprint and it felt better in some areas, but another issue came up which seems quite big. It’s a shame we couldn’t maximise it.”
Hopes of the 2025 F1 drivers’ title are all but gone for Verstappen, who revived for at least six weekends post the summer break what had become something of a stale battle between the McLaren team mates. Only Jacques Villeneuve appears to believe Max can yet make F1 history this year as he claimed on F1TV: “No, it’s never over. It’s a chaotic race here.”
F1’s 2026 regulations predicted to create an “overtake-fest”
Much has been written about the massive technical regulation changes coming in 2026 and most of it not positive. Yet on the plus side Mercedes trackside engineering director, Andrew Shovlin, believes the return to flat floors means there is little chance of the porpoising effect which affect the silver arrows so badly.
Next year the floor designs will return to one’s similar than prior to the 2022 regulation change. Gone will be the Venturi channels which create low pressure and suck the cars onto the track, but there will be a substantially large diffuser at the back of the car.
Shovlin argues even were similar issues to the porpoising effect to occur, the teams are much better placed to deal with them quickly. Even so, some teams will trip up in one area or another as the new extreme aerodynamic changes come into force….. READ MORE
A.J. Hunt is Senior Editor at TJ13, where Andrew oversees editorial standards and contributes to the site’s Formula 1 coverage. A career journalist with experience in both print and digital sports media, Andrew trained in investigative journalism and has written for a range of European sports outlets.
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sounds like McLaren need to find a new driver who can adapt himself to different cars.