Max Verstappen won the Japanese Grand Prix from pole position for his first victory of the 2025 season but is clear Red Bull still have problems to fix after starring at Suzuka.
The Dutchman became the first driver in F1’s history to record four consecutive Japanese GP victories at Suzuka on Sunday. Verstappen converted a phenomenal pole into the win with a mere 1.423-second lead over Lando Norris to also move within a point of the McLaren racer.
Norris leads the F1 drivers’ championship with 62 points playing 61 after taking the top spot off Verstappen for the first time in 1,029 days after he won at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. But the 27-year-old has hung on despite Red Bull enduring issues with the RB21.
Red Bull will not ‘sacrifice’ the RB21’s braking strength to give Max Verstappen a balanced car
Verstappen stunned McLaren to steal pole in Japan after Red Bull overhauled his set-up in a bid to overturn their speed deficit to Norris and Oscar Piastri. Getting to race in clean air and Suzuka’s resurfaced track negating McLaren’s tyre advantage also aided Verstappen to win.
But the four-time reigning champion stated that the RB21’s problems with corner balance is ‘still what we need to work on’ after Verstappen recorded Red Bull’s first pole of the 2025 F1 season in Japan. Yet Red Bull will not make one sacrifice to fix Verstappen’s balance issues.
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| Position | Drivers’ Championship | Points |
| 1 |
Lando Norris |
62 |
| 2 |
Max Verstappen |
61 |
| 3 |
Oscar Piastri |
49 |
| 4 |
George Russell |
45 |
| 5 |
Andrea Kimi Antonelli |
30 |
| 6 |
Charles Leclerc |
20 |
That is according to The Race, which reports Red Bull are very reluctant to ‘sacrifice’ one of the RB21’s strengths in terms of its braking performance to give Verstappen a balanced car through corners. Their stance leaves an uncomfortable juggling act to unlock the car’s pace.
When Red Bull change their set-ups to dial out the RB21’s problems on the entry to corners, it costs lap time on the exits. But when the team from Milton Keynes run a set-up to remove the understeer, the RB21 then becomes even more of a handful on corner entry than usual.
So, Red Bull do not want to weaken the RB21’s braking ability given Verstappen stole pole at Suzuka by bettering McLaren’s Norris and Piastri on the brakes into the hairpin plus the final chicane. Even though Red Bull are around two-tenths of a second off McLaren on pure pace.
Red Bull have upgrades coming they hope can fix Max Verstappen’s balance problems
Red Bull’s refusal to sacrifice the RB21’s strength under braking leaves Verstappen having to overcome its balance problems to battle for his fifth straight drivers’ title. Yet McLaren boss Andrea Stella doubts Verstappen can make the difference all year after his victory at Suzuka.
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The Dutchman pulled a rabbit out of the hat to win the Japanese GP and may have to do so again in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Miami. Red Bull will run their first major updates of 2025 at Imola which they hope will fix the RB21’s balance and offer Verstappen more confidence.
But on top of needing to wait for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on May 16-18 for the new parts to arrive, Verstappen has doubts about Red Bull’s ability to improve the RB21. He has grown uncertain given the Milton Keynes squad struggled to improve the RB20 last season.
