Max Verstappen has admitted that Red Bull’s grip issues will be “hard to fix” at the Australian Grand Prix as the reigning four-time world champion prepares for a difficult opening weekend of the season.
Red Bull — after an underwhelming preseason test — came into the first round of 2025 as surprise underdogs and struggled on Friday in Melbourne, with Verstappen only fifth and seventh in the first two practice sessions. New teammate Liam Lawson couldn’t manage higher than 16th.
Verstappen was around half a second off the leading pace of McLaren and Ferrari and while he insists he’s not surprised by the gap, he feels it will be difficult to close.
“The balance wasn’t even completely out,” Verstappen said after second practice. “Like, no massive or major problems. But somehow the grip was not coming alive and just struggling on all four tyres, really, in sector one and the last sector. That means of course that we are not really up there at the moment.
“The problem is that it’s not really like I have major balance problems, so I think it will be a bit hard to fix.
“But it’s also nothing that I didn’t expect when I arrived here, so I’m not positively or negatively surprised with the pace that we are showing.”
Lawson said he was “comfortable, but just too slow,” though Christian Horner stressed to Sky Sports F1: “The timesheet isn’t a true representation of where everyone is, it’s an indication.”
Red Bull’s problems did, however, open the door to rivals, and Ferrari appear the happiest of the bunch after Charles Leclerc topped FP2, with Lewis Hamilton fifth.
Lando Norris, the favourite for the drivers’ title this season in his McLaren, was fastest in the opening session but then slipped back and said: “It’s been a good start to the weekend, we’ve got a good baseline.
“But certainly not happy, like not confident with the car in terms of finding the best balance and being consistent enough, especially on low fuel.
“High fuel, I felt good. Just low fuel was still similar to Bahrain, too many inconsistencies, too many problems, so a bit of a struggle.”
His teammate and home favourite Oscar Piastri said the opening day was “encouraging.”
Mercedes, meanwhile, appeared fast over the long runs — crucial for Sunday’s race — but couldn’t keep up over one lap.
“There’s clearly a bit of pace in the car,” George Russell said. “It’s just getting the most out of the tyres, so we need to understand why that is.”
