While the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix brought with it a better than expected result for the Red Bull Racing crew, things aren’t looking so good for Miami.

The RB21’s narrow operating window is even more troublesome in hot conditions, and Helmut Marko expects the race in Florida to be difficult.

Red Bull expecting RB21 trouble in Miami

The Miami Grand Prix is on the horizon as the Formula 1 circus makes one more stop before its first European events of 2025.

At this point in the season, the clear leaders are the McLaren duo of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, who sit 1-2 in the championship standings heading into the event where Norris took his first-ever Grand Prix win.

They’re the clear favorites, of course — but Red Bull is already raising some warning flags about how they expect to perform, as the narrow operating window of the RB21 doesn’t exactly align with the expected heat and humidity of Miami.

More on Red Bull’s driver swaps:

👉 All the mid-season driver swaps Red Bull have made in their F1 history

👉 Red Bull’s seven shortest driver stints – and why they ended

In his Speedweek column after the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko made some grim projections for the upcoming race.

“What do the findings from the first five races mean for the upcoming race in Miami?” he wrote.

“Once again, we’re talking about a completely different track, but above all we’re expecting higher temperatures.

“On paper, that’s not an advantage for us. In Jeddah, we were eight tenths behind McLaren in the third practice session, in significantly warmer conditions than later in qualifying.

“We and the other opponents expected McLaren to drive away from everyone. But that didn’t happen.

“In Miami, we still expect the conditions to be more in McLaren’s favour.

“Our task at the moment is to develop a broader working window for our race car; and also to reduce certain weaknesses of the car before the races in Europe and thus improve the basic speed of the car.”

There’s not much time remaining before that European stint, which means the pressure is on in Miami.

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