With only a week left for the 2025 season-opening Grand Prix in Australia, predictions about the pecking order are flying in from every corner of the F1 community. While McLaren being the fastest team is the general consensus, the order behind them has caused a lot of debate.
Some say that Ferrari are McLaren’s closest challengers, while some claim that Max Verstappen can still eke out enough performance from Red Bull’s RB21 to keep them in close contention. Meanwhile, Mercedes have impressed many by surprisingly being at par with Ferrari during pre-season testing in Bahrain.
So, who has got it right? For now, there is immense uncertainty as multiple drivers from either of these teams could grace the podium in Melbourne. As for Red Bull, though, the RB21 hasn’t shown enough promise to be a clear contender to the Woking outfit.
In fact, technical director Pierre Wache claimed that he wasn’t happy with how their 2025 car responded in Bahrain. Relatively, Ferrari had a much better showing in testing. Still, Helmut Marko claims that the Scuderia could be the third-fastest team this year.
“Ferrari is, according to our calculations, the third strongest force, just ahead of Mercedes,” Marko said to RTL, as quoted on X (formerly Twitter). While he did not mention that Red Bull were second per their calculations, it was implicit that he would rank his time behind McLaren, who are being deemed as the outright fastest.
Fans naturally have hit back at the Austrian veteran’s prediction as they posted on X to question how Red Bull have calculated this grid hierarchy. One fan said, “Then Your calculations are wrong hehe”, while another asked who is the second-fastest team per Marko.
Then your calculations are wrong hehe
— Attila Takos (@atakos22) March 8, 2025
One user jokingly said, “He must’ve put Williams up in second, cause we know it’s not red bull”. The way Williams performed during testing, they surely have the ability to be the dark horse of the 2025 season. However, competing at the front as the second-fastest team is certainly not possible, as things stand for the Grove-based outfit.
wow he must’ve put williams up in second, cause we know it’s not red bull
— Maadda ️ (@TheMaadda) March 8, 2025
Lastly, another fan reminded Marko that Wache himself claimed that Red Bull could struggle to even match Ferrari in Bahrain.
Wache said ferrari are ahead of you keep dreaming pal
— (@doumbelewis) March 8, 2025
And Wache’s claims are not without substance. The Red Bull technical director has made these comments after keenly observing McLaren and Ferrari’s cars and contrasting the RB21’s performance with them.
Wache feels McLaren and Ferrari will be faster
Firstly, Wache was unhappy with Red Bull’s showing during pre-season testing. While he admitted that they have found the right developmental trajectory, the RB21 still has a lot of work to be done.
Secondly, he also stated how McLaren and Ferrari could be guilty of working with the mini-DRS phenomenon that the Woking team inadvertently introduced last year during the Azerbaijan GP. With the tiny slot gap in the rear wing mainplane, the MCL38 was allegedly gaining crucial milliseconds.
While they ensured to rectify the issue, pre-season testing gave a glimpse of the mini-DRS being back on multiple cars, including McLaren, Ferrari, and Mercedes.
Wache candidly told The Race that this could keep Red Bull on the back foot, besides multiple issues on their car that they are yet to resolve. “I think Ferrari and McLaren are doing the mini-DRS stuff still.”
All in all, Wache and Co. have work to do with the RB21 and bring it up to pace with the likes of McLaren and Ferrari if they have to stay in title contention. Otherwise, they will have to give up on both championships in 2025 and instead focus on nailing the 2026 car.
