Max Verstappen Wary of Red Bull’s Form Ahead of Monaco GP

After a promising performance at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in Imola, where Red Bull showed significant progress with its 2025 Formula 1 car, Max Verstappen is not optimistic about the team’s form for this weekend’s race in Monaco.

Red Bull’s Strength in Tyre Management and Weakness Over Bumps

Last weekend, Verstappen narrowly missed pole position, but passed polesitter Oscar Piastri at the start before comfortably controlling the race. The team’s car was much stronger on tyre management than it had been previously, while the McLarens underperformed compared to expectations.

Imola marked the introduction of Pirelli’s softest C6 compound, with the usual C5 tyre designated as a medium and used in the race. The same tyre allocation remains for Monaco’s tight and twisty street circuit, where tyre wear will be less of a limiting factor.

Verstappen’s Concerns About Monaco’s Track Characteristics

However, Verstappen warns that Red Bull still isn’t fully on top of its weaknesses when it comes to handling kerbs and bumps, which are plentiful around the Principality. The lack of high-speed corners, he fears, will give McLaren an edge over the competition.

Imola has given us some good ideas about what we need from the car,” Verstappen told Dutch-language media on Thursday, including Motorsport.com. “But here it’s a very different track. You can’t set the car up like you did in Imola because it would bounce all over the place.

This track is still not optimal for us,” Verstappen continued. “I think we all know that. You can see this season that we can be competitive every time we go to tracks with high-speed corners, but the rest is more difficult. If you look at Imola, you could still see that the slowest corners weren’t our strongest on that track. We know that this track isn’t for our car and that is still the same.

Red Bull’s Struggles with Bumps and Kerbs in Monaco Last Year

Red Bull’s weakness over bumps and kerbs was particularly apparent in Monaco last year, with Verstappen only managing sixth on the grid behind cars from three different teams, and finishing a processional race in the same position.

Verstappen’s View on Red Bull’s Progress Over the Winter Break

Now, he says he doesn’t feel that Red Bull made significant strides in addressing the issues over the winter break. “To be honest, it hasn’t felt too different so far compared to last year,” Verstappen said about the key Red Bull weakness. “But of course, we’re still trying to find some things with the setup as well, to make the car at least a bit more driveable on tracks like this.

At the moment, it’s hard to say how Red Bull will perform in Monaco. We need to wait and see how they start the weekend tomorrow, including the feeling in the car. But like I said, it won’t be easy, that’s for sure.