After the dominant showing of winning 21 out of 22 races last year, the entire paddock had braced themselves for a Red Bull whitewash this season. But the Milton Keynes-based outfit has fallen from grace in sensational circumstances.
Seemingly unable to keep up with the competition this year, the RB20 has fallen leaps and bounds behind title rivals, Ferrari and McLaren. On top of that, a statistic from the Mexico City GP will be giving Max Verstappen sleepless nights in the weeks to come.
Looking at the race-pace data from the Grand Prix at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Verstappen’s lap times on the white-walled hard compound of tires were almost a tenth slower than Haas driver, Kevin Magnussen. To put this into context, Haas currently sit sixth in the standings with 46 points whilst Red Bull are third with a whopping 512 points.
In all fairness, their early season form has been the only consolation prize for the Milton Keynes-based outfit — still keeping them in contention for P2 in the standings. But more alarmingly, Verstappen‘s chances of defending the drivers’ title seem more fragile than ever.
Max Verstappen was slower on the hard tyre than Kevin Magnussen in a Haas.
Hard tyre pace
Magnussen – 1:21.312
Verstappen – 1:21.403 (+0.091s)Shocking from Red Bull. Never seen a midseason decline like this. At least with Brawn, we knew they couldn’t afford to develop. pic.twitter.com/rqCX4CPl3M
— Daniel Valente ️ (@F1GuyDan) October 27, 2024
His title rival, McLaren’s Lando Norris cut his deficit to the #1 driver to 47 points after his 12th podium of the season. Mathematically, the Briton is still in contention but the odds are in favor of the Dutchman given that Norris only has four races remaining to breach the points gap.
That said, even though Verstappen can narrowly cling on to the title this season, Red Bull‘s downturn in pace could have serious consequences for the 27-year-old in 2025.
Verstappen could slip further back in 2025
Verstappen has been winning in the sport since 2021. The last time he did not finish first in the standings was 2020. If the data from the Mexico City GP is to be believed as a benchmark for the Bulls, the Dutchman could suffer his worst season in F1 after his maiden championship triumph.
It has now been 10 Grands Prix since the three-time world champion took the chequered flag in P1. Despite his 2024 US GP Sprint Race win, Verstappen has been suffering from a dry spell in the sport that he has not been accustomed to for a while now.
With the 2025 cars tipped to only be an evolution of the 2024 concept, Red Bull are expected to carry forward the gremlins of the RB20 onto the RB21. Christian Horner has admitted that the team will carry over many concepts from this year’s car onto the 2025 challenger but hope to rectify its flaws this season with a few last-ditch upgrades.
This would mean that Verstappen’s winless streak might just extend into and beyond the ’25 season.
