Verstappen 'doesn't think he'll fight for victory in Melbourne' and sees McLaren as sole favourite

The incredible record series of Max Verstappen Will it end on March 16, at the finish of the Australian Grand Prix? At the start of the opening round of the 2025 season, the Dutchman will have spent 1029 days leading the world championship, having never lost control of the Drivers' standings since the Spanish Grand Prix in 2022! However, this supremacy risks ending this year, right from the first race in Melbourne. If the four-time world champion does not win, then the counter will stop at 1029 consecutive days without ever having been ranked above first place – a record that has already been largely beaten, since Michael Schumacher had spent 897 consecutive days leading the championship from September 2000 to March 2003.

And the risk is quite high: in fact, after winter tests in retreat, Red Bull seems to be in a less comfortable position than its rivals. The Austrian team completed the fewest laps of the ten teams on the grid, with minor technical issues encountered over the three days of testing, and did not really shine on the long runs despite a fairly flattering best time (4th absolute time, two tenths of a second off the reference). Symbol of this concern within the Austrian clan, Max Verstappen did not hide a certain pessimism before starting the season in Australia.

According to the Dutchman, at present only one team seems to be able to fight for both world titles at the start of the 2025 season. "And this team is orange, Max Verstappen emphasizes from Viaplay, citing without naming the stable McLaren. It’s a very nice colour, of course, but on our side we still have work to do. The other teams also want to improve, so I think for now one team is clearly ahead. (…) There’s work to do. Looking at the lap times, I think McLaren will be the favourites.”

Verstappen hopes for improvements during the season

And a direct consequence of this: Max Verstappen believes that Red Bull will be behind in Australia and that he will not be able to win the opening round, as was the case in 2023 and 2024. Things didn't go perfectly on our end, but we have some ideas to improve, says the four-time world champion regarding the problems encountered in Bahrain during winter testing. I also spent a lot of time in the simulator, even yesterday with the team. I don't think we will fight for the win in Melbourne, but I hope we can implement some improvements in the next races."

For Max Verstappen, the Red Bull RB21 has yet to iron out all the flaws of its predecessor. Last year, one of the RB20's main weaknesses was its performance on bumpy surfaces, a characteristic that the Albert Park street circuit will highlight at next week's Australian Grand Prix. “In terms of balance, the car is more consistent between corner entry and mid-corner. But we still struggle with kerbs and bumps, which is not our strong point. I keep stressing that.”, recalls the four-time world champion. It remains to be seen whether Max Verstappen's predictions translate into action on the track on March 16th...

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