Max Verstappen’s last few Formula 1 races have been a frustrating dose of realisation for the Red Bull driver.
The winner of the last four consecutive drivers’ championships has been forced to compete in a car which is much slower than what his rivals at McLaren have, and has still managed to remain competitive.
Verstappen shouldn’t have been able to get close to pole position at the Miami Grand Prix, but he managed to do so with an excellent lap.
Red Bull are banking on incoming upgrades to save their season, otherwise, 2025 could become their first season since 2020 without a title.
Verstappen was anxious on the Miami grid, which shows that there is some unease regarding the pace of his car currently.
Juan Pablo Montoya thinks Verstappen would win at Aston Martin but taking such a big plunge at this stage in his career would be a bold move.
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Max Verstappen should be ‘angry’ at Red Bull after realising he can’t beat his rivals
Not for the first time this season, Verstappen was powerless to his closest rivals in Miami to the tune of nearly one second per lap.
At that rate, he stands no chance of fighting for the title. He desperately needs upgrades during the European leg of the season, which starts with the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
It’s where the majority of the field should be introducing their developments too, but the Milton Keynes-based outfit are relying on theirs to be most effective.
Antonio Ghini believes that Verstappen has every right to be frustrated with his team after realising that no matter what he does, he cannot keep up with Oscar Piastri or Lando Norris.
“We had said, I had said Verstappen the cunning,” he said. “Today, we could say Verstappen is angry because he realises that no matter how much he does, those others are going faster.
“So today, he is angry. We saw him in the race, how he pulled out the classic well-known claws.”
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Why Max Verstappen’s 2025 F1 title charge is doomed
There clearly isn’t much that Verstappen can do with a one-second deficit that will keep him in the title fight.
It’s almost inevitable at the current rate that Formula 1 will be crowning a new champion in 2025. On current form, Piastri has been the most convincing for McLaren.
However, Norris has the speed to win it all if he can just limit his mistakes and find a bit of consistency again.
Verstappen will be hoping that his next set of upgrades can keep him within a few tenths of McLaren at the very worst.
Otherwise, there’s nothing he can do, and his frustration will only grow. It’s what could force him out of Red Bull at the end of the campaign.
