{"id":34228,"date":"2025-05-25T03:49:23","date_gmt":"2025-05-25T07:49:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=34228"},"modified":"2025-05-25T03:49:23","modified_gmt":"2025-05-25T07:49:23","slug":"max-verstappen-admits-red-bull-lack-pace-after-monaco-qualifying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/05\/25\/max-verstappen-admits-red-bull-lack-pace-after-monaco-qualifying\/","title":{"rendered":"Max Verstappen admits Red Bull lack pace after Monaco qualifying"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Despite his commanding race win last weekend, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/04\/06\/honda-hope-for-another-opportunity-to-work-with-max-verstappen\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Max Verstappen<\/a> was unable to contest for Pole Position in Monaco.<\/p>\n<p>Not for the first time in 2025, the RB21 was not match for McLaren&#8217;s MCL39 &#8211; although on this occasion even Ferrari had more pace than the Austrian team.<\/p>\n<p>Both Red Bull drivers have discussed some of the RB21&#8217;s limitations this weekend in Monte Carlo.<\/p>\n<p>Because of this, Verstappen was not necessarily surprised to see Norris claim Pole Position, though he remains open-minded for what race day could bring.<\/p>\n<h2>Red Bull on the defensive in Monaco<\/h2>\n<p>There was some hope after Emilia Romagna that Red Bull had made a step forward relative to McLaren.<\/p>\n<p>A series of small technical directives were introduced last weekend, which some attributed to Verstappen&#8217;s strong pace and &#8211; critically &#8211; vastly improved tyre degradation relative <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/04\/11\/lando-norris-responds-to-verstappen-claims-about-the-mcl39\/\" target=\"_self\">to the MCL39 cars<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>McLaren team principal Andrea Stella dismissed these claims, though some in the paddock buy into this theory.<\/p>\n<p>One week later, at least in Monaco, McLaren still enjoy an advantage over the rest of the field.<\/p>\n<p>Critically, qualifying demonstrated that the Woking team are comfortably the most consistent.<\/p>\n<p>Whilst Ferrari, Red Bull and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/05\/25\/mercedes-struggle-with-performance-and-reliability-in-monaco\/\" target=\"_self\">Mercedes<\/a> are prone to highs and lows, the MCL39 performs well regardless of circumstances.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"Mi1HGjz5RhVrH_sL-AOoCg\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2216651834\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'Mi1HGjz5RhVrH_sL-AOoCg',sig:'JIVn-sV-M1G7LK2WSKCxPNar08e_snKT33ji1JhKMP8=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2216651834',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Luckily for Christian Horner&#8217;s team, the major technical directive at the Spanish GP could be the beginning of a reset.<\/p>\n<p>Both Horner and senior advisor <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/05\/08\/red-bull-and-vcarb-pace-gap-isnt-that-great-says-marko\/\" target=\"_self\">Helmut Marko<\/a> have expressed confidence that this directive could hamper McLaren.<\/p>\n<p>Irrespective of the impact these new rules have, most teams will have updates in Barcelona &#8211; which could change the playing field.<\/p>\n<p>In today&#8217;s race, Verstappen&#8217;s focus will be the same as in previous events, which is to limit the damage from the McLaren duo.<\/p>\n<h4>Verstappen analyses the RB21&#8217;s performance<\/h4>\n<p>Red Bull, in their haste to respond after a disappointing start to the year, were one of the first teams to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/04\/06\/red-bull-verstappen-sense-mclaren-weakness-upgrades-arriving\/\" target=\"_self\">bring major updates in 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>These changes, which are currently on Max Verstappen&#8217;s car, include a new floor.<\/p>\n<p>Generally speaking, these updates have given the Dutchman a slightly more consistent balance and more predictable car.<\/p>\n<p>However, there is still a notable gap to the ultra-consistency of the McLaren cars, which generate more downforce whilst also being far more stable.<\/p>\n<p>After yesterday&#8217;s qualifying, the 4-time Champion explained why the final result was no surprise:<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;In FP3 it was clear that we had limitations, unfortunately in sector two we were fairly slow, which was a shame.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a id=\"UElvMvioQy1oTvbpMp1ILg\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2216839236\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'UElvMvioQy1oTvbpMp1ILg',sig:'ZhFtUXqRIIU-c5uLrbNqoSg9gVsny0loc4dyUoS2NzU=',w:'594px',h:'446px',items:'2216839236',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;We were hoping for a bit more pace. But it is clear that we are weaker in low speed.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;We had issues with the kerbs, which has always been the case with this car, and we generally struggle on the low-speed corners.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;We were just lacking feeling and balance and only managed P5 today.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Regarding the moment with Lewis, I understand the Team told him that I was driving slow when in the fast lane.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;So that was not his fault and had nothing to do with him but was a scary moment.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Tomorrow, we will have to see how the two stop effects the race and what it brings.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Main photo: Sam Bagnall\/Sutton Images (via Red Bull content pool)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Despite his commanding race win last weekend, Max Verstappen was unable to contest for Pole Position in Monaco. Not for the first time in 2025, the RB21 was not match for McLaren&#8217;s MCL39 &#8211; although on this occasion even Ferrari had more pace than the Austrian team. Both Red Bull drivers have discussed some of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":34231,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[2452,79,2455,78],"class_list":["post-34228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-f1-2025-season","tag-max-verstappen","tag-rb21","tag-red-bull-racing"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34228"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34254,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34228\/revisions\/34254"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}