Verstappen doubts Red Bull can catch McLaren this season

As the time comes to tackle the second part of the season, Max Verstappen has been particularly clear-headed. While he acknowledges that the team is not where it should be, he also stated that it is very likely Red Bull will not catch up with McLaren by the end of the season.

« If everyone knew exactly what needed to be done, then everyone would win races – or at least, everyone would have a chance to win. In F1, unfortunately, that’s not the case. It’s a very complex sport. Of course, we are not where we would like to be », explained the Dutchman to RaceFans.

A car becoming less and less efficient over the years

Yet, just two years ago, the Austrian team managed to win 23 of the 24 races of the season, a record in the discipline, and was still dominating the championship at the start of last season. However, for the past 12 months, difficulties have accumulated within the Austrian camp, both inside the team and on the track. While Verstappen has managed to win two races this season, he is already 69 points behind Oscar Piastri. A significant gap, especially since McLaren still has planned developments for this season, which the Dutchman will not be able to close. « Will we be on McLaren’s level? Maybe not. Probably not. That’s how it is in F1. »

Despite everything, the Red Bull driver is not worried about the future, mentioning the intense work of his team to make up for the delay. « We are trying to find more performance in the car. Of course, last year we were a bit penalized by our balance issues, so we first had to understand what was happening. It’s certain that this probably also slowed down the future development of the car this year. But we are still doing everything we can to be as competitive as possible. »

A delay with McLaren that can potentially be made up in the coming seasons.

The Dutchman also believes that this drop in performance is normal, as F1 has often experienced periods of domination by certain teams which then came to an end. Sometimes, you have dominant years, years when you can win a lot, and sometimes not—or not at all. When you look at previous regulations, I don’t think anyone would have imagined that McLaren would suddenly achieve this. Sometimes, it takes a bit of time to get everything in place. For us, it was the opposite. We had everything very well from the start of the new regulations, and then, towards the end, it became a bit more difficult. It’s something we need to analyze: why haven’t we progressed as much as other teams?

Despite the significant gap between Red Bull and McLaren and the upcoming regulations in 2026, Red Bull announced that upgrades will be coming in the next races to try to close part of the gap with the British team, particularly in the aerodynamic area. We are going to improve a little, and the other teams will also improve, he said. But it will not suddenly be easy to reach McLaren’s level of performance. I think that in some areas of the corners, we are a bit weak. In low-speed corners, we are not very good. And I think it is especially in medium-speed corners that McLaren is really strong compared to the others. We can’t match them.

With the departure of Christian Horner and rumors concerning Max Verstappen, the Austrian team is preparing for a fresh start. The second half of the season is likely to be crucial for the team’s short-term future. They will need to be able to find performance this season while also preparing for 2026, which will mark the end of their collaboration with Honda and the obligation to produce their own engines.