Red Bull figures including team principal Christian Horner and driver Max Verstappen held ‘crisis’ talks at their factory this Thursday which also saw Liam Lawson demoted.
Key personnel from the Milton Keynes crew gathered for a technical summit to address their underwhelming start to the 2025 Formula 1 season. After the first two rounds of the season, Red Bull are only third in the constructors’ championship and are 42 points behind McLaren.
Their plight has largely been two-fold with the Red Bull RB21 a tricky car to handle, even for Verstappen for whom it was mainly created. The RB21’s sharp front end and loose rear were too difficult for Lawson to master, seeing the Kiwi sent back to Racing Bulls after two rounds.
Official confirmation arrived this Thursday that Yuki Tsunoda will replace Lawson at Red Bull from the Japanese Grand Prix. Horner and the Red Bull hierarchy felt they had to act now to improve their championship position and to use Tsunoda’s experience to improve the RB21.
Max Verstappen is clear that ‘every’ Red Bull upgrade must work after a crisis meeting
Lawson’s demotion to Racing Bulls and Tsunoda’s promotion only three months after he was overlooked to replace Sergio Perez was the first bit of business resolved at Red Bull’s crisis meeting this Thursday. The rest of the meeting was then spent on how to improve the RB21.
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And, according to GPblog, Red Bull’s crisis meeting which motorsport advisor Helmut Marko did not attend was mainly positive. Verstappen also left Red Bull’s factory largely happy with what their technical team discussed to catch McLaren in the F1 constructors’ championship.
| Position | Constructors’ Standings | Points |
| 1 |
McLaren Racing |
78 |
| 2 |
Mercedes-AMG Petronas |
57 |
| 3 |
Red Bull Racing |
36 |
| 4 |
Williams F1 Team |
17 |
| 5 |
Scuderia Ferrari |
17 |
| 6 |
Haas F1 Team |
14 |
| 7 |
Aston Martin F1 Team |
10 |
| 8 |
Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber |
6 |
| 9 |
Racing Bulls |
3 |
| 10 |
Alpine F1 Team |
0 |
But, along with some scepticism remaining amongst their ranks, Verstappen left the summit with one clear thought that ‘everything’ Red Bull now implement in terms of upgrades must be successful. Marko recently stated that upgrades are coming to help the RB21’s tyre wear.
Further, GPblog also claims that Verstappen is ‘extremely annoyed’ that the Red Bull RB21 is not good enough to compete with McLaren. The fact that their machine can also struggle to contest against Mercedes and Ferrari’s cars causes the Dutchman additional frustration, too.
Red Bull did not know how to fix the RB21 after Max Verstappen’s Chinese GP struggles
Thursday’s crisis meeting at their Milton Keynes factory materialised as their early struggles so far this year left the team with the feeling that Red Bull do not know how to fix the RB21. While it was built for Verstappen’s driving style, even he has hated the inconsistent balance.
Verstappen sealed second in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix largely due to Oscar Piastri spinning in P2 plus the Dutchman’s skills in the wet. Last weekend’s meet in Shanghai was a far harder race with Verstappen hacking at the Red Bull star’s steering wheel in China.
