Max Verstappen seemingly loved driving around the Shanghai International Circuit on Sunday—even though he missed out on a podium finish—as he claimed that the 2025 Chinese GP should have been six hours long. Ahead of the race, the Dutchman had claimed that the only way he could win was if all those ahead of him—Oscar Piastri, George Russell, and Lando Norris—crashed out as Red Bull just did not have the pace to challenge for the victory.
His prediction seemed accurate as Verstappen crossed the line in fourth and finished more than 16 seconds behind race-winner Piastri. And even finishing fourth took some effort for the reigning champion.
After the race start, Verstappen lost two places in quick succession to the two Ferraris of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. However, with Hamilton making an additional pit stop and Leclerc struggling because of a damaged front wing after the first lap contact with his teammate, Verstappen was able to get past both of them again.
If such were the struggles of Verstappen, then why did he claim that the Chinese GP should have been six hours long? It is simply because as the race progressed, he believed it got better for him.
“The longer we drove, the better it got for us compared to the others,” the Red Bull driver said in his post-race interview with Viaplay. “So, I think if we participate in a six-hour race then…”.
if max was in charge today would’ve been the 6 hours of shanghai pic.twitter.com/lLBgYv9B2k
— nini (@SCUDERIAFEMBOY) March 23, 2025
Before Verstappen could even finish, the interviewer said that they could perhaps name the race the six hours of Shanghai, to which the Dutchman had a laugh and said, “Yeah”.
But of course, he had a joking tone to it, which is a reflection of the tricky position Verstappen finds himself in currently. On one end, he is extracting the most out of that RB21. Meanwhile, he and the team know that the car can be better as they are still not at par with McLaren, let alone be better.
Verstappen’s Shanghai exploits keep title hopes alive
Following a poor start, Verstappen had to use all his racecraft to get back in the fight with the Ferraris. He brilliantly managed his tires which helped him pull off a one-stopper and overtake Hamilton, who had to make the extra stop.
After he successfully passed the Briton, the Dutchman made an outstanding late move against his childhood karting rival Leclerc to snatch fourth. While Verstappen would definitely not be happy to have a car that is no longer capable of fighting for the win, he was satisfied with fourth.
“I think the end was not too bad, just the beginning was quite tough,” Verstappen told his race engineer Gianpiereo Lambiase after the race on the team radio. “But yeah- yeah that was, was good. Bit of fun racing too, at the end”.
Thank you Shanghai Leaving with some positives!#KeepPushing pic.twitter.com/YhoEzBrWhe
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) March 23, 2025
With even podium finishes hard to come by, defending his championship could be quite difficult for Verstappen this season, especially considering McLaren’s dominant performance in the first two races, as their MCL39 seems to be the class of the field. Yet, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has not yet given up hope.
“It’s race 2, we can’t be that defeatist. It’s all to play for, what last year has shown, you can start strong but it’s how you finish,” Horner said. “We have great strength and depth in the company working to find more performance”.
The British boss is perhaps referring to how McLaren came back at Red Bull last year to win the Constructors’ Championship. Although Verstappen had managed to win seven out of the first 10 races and Norris had just managed to win one for McLaren in the same duration, the Woking-based outfit yet managed to win the Constructors’ title by winning five of the last 14 races.
