Karun Chandhok does not think it’s ‘fair’ what people are saying about Red Bull after Max Verstappen’s Imola win

Max Verstappen will target his third Monaco Grand Prix win this weekend for also his third victory of the 2025 F1 season so far after the Red Bull racer triumphed at Imola.

The 27-year-old will even see one of his alternating records come to an end on Sunday. Last weekend’s Emilia Romagna GP extended the Dutchman’s run of making the podium at every other Grand Prix over the past 13 rounds going back to his P3 in the 2024 United States GP.

Verstappen has also not made the rostrum at the round after winning a Grand Prix since 22 rounds ago when he won in Canada and Spain. But the Red Bull driver will hope to end that run this weekend to uphold his run at the Monaco GP after winning there in 2021 and 2023.

Becoming only the ninth driver to win the Monaco GP three times would mark Verstappen’s third win of the 2025 F1 season, too, after winning from pole position in Japan plus from P2 at Imola. Verstappen passed Oscar Piastri to win the Emilia Romagna GP at Turn 3 on Lap 1.

Karun Chandhok thinks Max Verstappen is proving the ‘narrative’ Red Bull are ‘struggling’ is wrong

But despite only Piastri winning more Grands Prix so far this term than Verstappen, with the McLaren driver taking four victories and Lando Norris one, Karun Chandhok thinks there is a ‘narrative’ that Red Bull are struggling now that they are no longer the dominant team in F1.

Verstappen has bemoaned the through-corner balance of Red Bull’s car this year, yet he still only trails Piastri by 22 points in the F1 drivers’ championship after winning at Imola. So, any suggestion that Red Bull are miles off McLaren is somewhat fanciful given his performances.

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Chandhok told GPBlog: “Are they really struggling that much, or are the expectations just different? This thing of Red Bull struggling and Max struggling, I feel like it’s become a narrative that people are saying.

“I think they’re not as good as McLaren but I don’t think they’re that far behind. The car has a very narrow operating window where one driver can get performance. That’s what it is.

“So, I don’t think it’s fair to say that they are struggling. I think it’s just that people got used to them dominating.”

Red Bull have 138 fewer points than McLaren ahead of the Monaco GP due to Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda

Red Bull sit just third in the F1 constructors’ standings behind McLaren and Mercedes ahead of the Monaco GP having only scored 131 points compared to their rivals’ 279 and 147. But the main differentiator between Red Bull and McLaren is not the performance of their cars.

READ MORE: Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda’s life outside F1 from height to parents

Instead, the biggest difference is that McLaren have two drivers scoring big points in almost every race with Piastri and Norris, whereas Red Bull are fighting with one hand behind their back with Liam Lawson and more recently Yuki Tsunoda unable to match Verstappen’s form.

Lawson failed to score a single point through his two rounds with Red Bull and Tsunoda has only scored seven since stepping up from Racing Bulls to replace the Kiwi. He has even only finished in the points during a Grand Prix with P9 in Bahrain plus P10 in Miami and at Imola.

No one at Red Bull expects Tsunoda to get close to Verstappen’s lap times, but he is costing them points with the RB21 capable of more than the 25-year-old’s result. Red Bull see Isack Hadjar as an option to replace Tsunoda in 2026, too, with him not certain to stay next term.