Red Bull chief now admits one issue Max Verstappen hates may ‘never’ go away

Max Verstappen continued his streak of failing to finish on the podium at every other Grand Prix in Miami, as Red Bull even saw the true extent of their deficit to McLaren.

The 2025 F1 season is just six rounds in after the Miami Grand Prix, yet Red Bull already trail McLaren by 141 points. McLaren would even still sit atop the F1 constructors’ championship via countback of race wins (5) if Red Bull and Mercedes combined their 105 and 141 points.

Verstappen has scored 99 of Red Bull’s 105 points after overcoming the deficiencies of their car, the RB21, to still sit third in the drivers’ standings. Yet after Oscar Piastri won the Miami GP, the four-time defending world champion now trails the McLaren star’s 131 points by 32.

Piastri even hit the chequered flag 39.956 seconds ahead of Verstappen in fourth place after Mercedes star George Russell undercut the Red Bull racer for third. It was the third time this year he did not finish on the podium, even though Verstappen scored pole for the Miami GP.

Red Bull may ‘never’ fix their through-corner balance problem Max Verstappen hates

Red Bull motorsport adviser Helmut Marko estimated that Verstappen lost between seven-tenths to a full second per lap to Piastri during the Miami GP. Their through-corner balance problem again reared its head in Florida and let the McLaren driver streak clear in the lead.

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Chief engineer Paul Monaghan even now admits that Red Bull may ‘never’ fix their through-corner balance problem that Verstappen has often complained about this year. Their RB21’s rear goes light under braking before the car’s balance shifts to understeer towards the apex.

“There’s no one-size-fits-all solution,” Monaghan has told Auto Motor und Sport. “It’s only possible with small advances in many areas. We know what’s happening to the car, but finding a cure isn’t so simple.

“It may never even go away completely, but we should at least be able to mitigate the extent of it. We have a lot of clever people in Milton Keynes working hard on it. I’m sure it will get better.”

Max Verstappen is losing confidence in Red Bull as their balance problem persists

Verstappen has often managed to overcome Red Bull’s through-corner balance problem and remain a threat to McLaren drivers Piastri and Lando Norris. Yet he could not overcome it at the Miami GP as it was difficult even for the Dutchman to predict how his car would handle.

Red Bull’s upgraded floor given only to Verstappen in Miami was designed to help manage the problem. Yet it was not a game-changing solution to an issue Verstappen said Red Bull ‘still’ had to fix after his Japanese Grand Prix pole lap where his skill beat Norris by 0.012s.

The fact that their through-corner balance problem continued in the Bahrain Grand Prix as he came home in sixth and, again, in the heat of Miami en route to finishing in fourth is not helping improve his mood and Verstappen is losing confidence in Red Bull’s engineers now.