Max Verstappen admitted Red Bull’s struggles were “very obvious” despite securing second place at the Dutch Grand Prix 2025 in Zandvoort. The home crowd witnessed their star extend his record of always finishing inside the top two at his home race.
Verstappen benefited when championship rival Lando Norris suffered a late reliability problem, which promoted the Dutchman to second place. However, Verstappen made it clear that the RB21 was lacking pace during the race compared to qualifying.
Verstappen on Red Bull’s Race Pace
“We take it,” said Verstappen. “Qualifying on Saturday was good. I hoped for a little bit more in the race, but quite quickly I realised that the pace was not there. It always seems like in the race, we just seem to struggle more than over one lap, just with the tyre behaviour with the car, and that was very obvious again.
“I just tried to manage my pace, but that basically meant that it was more of a fight with the cars behind me than whatever was happening in front of me.”
The comments underlined Verstappen’s view that while Red Bull remains strong over one lap, its race pace continues to suffer.
Strong Start but Clear Limitations
At the start, Verstappen went wheel-to-wheel with Norris through the first two corners at Zandvoort. He then recovered from a big slide at Turn 3 to keep his position and push ahead. But as the laps unfolded, the Dutchman struggled to maintain speed against the front-running McLaren.
Although the podium result keeps his streak alive, Verstappen’s reflections point to the RB21’s weaknesses in tyre management and long-run consistency. The Dutch GP 2025 showed that Red Bull still has work to do if they want to challenge McLaren in future races.
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