Red Bull have struggled in recent years to have a competitive pair of drivers, but the opening rounds of the 2025 season has exposed that weakness to a new level.
After Liam Lawson suffered early exits in qualifying in Australia and sprint qualifying in China, it doesn’t seem to be getting any better for the second car.
Callum Davis has his say on where it’s going wrong for the team at the moment.
Having made the decision to swap Sergio Perez for Liam Lawson as Max Verstappen‘s teammate for 2025, Red Bull were hoping to have ended the curse of the second driver.
But a topsy-turvy Australian Grand Prix and a poor start to the Chinese Grand Prix weekend has brought back discussions about just how bad the situation at Red Bull is.
When you compare their line-up to rivals, the comparison isn’t even close.
Mercedes have the experience of George Russell in the second seat, whilst the car is compliant enough to accommodate the raw talent and speed of a rookie.
Whilst Lawson has more experience than Kimi Antonelli, there is one key reason that Antonelli has shone whilst Lawson has wilted.
McLaren have two very fast and competitive drivers in Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. The car is balanced for both drivers and they can both extract the most from it, most of the time.
Ferrari have built a super team of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton. Two of the strongest drivers in recent Formula One (F1) history side-by-side, there are very few teams in F1 history that can compete with a line-up that strong.
So why can’t Red Bull compete with that?
Red Bull’s Noble Aim
The thought process behind F1 Driver Academies are to assist young talent as they rise through the ranks. Should that driver be deemed quick enough for F1, the team that supported them get first dibs on them, and presumably at a cheaper rate than usual.
Red Bull’s problem is their quantity over quality approach.
The team currently supports three out of the F2 grid: Oliver Goethe, Pepe Marti, and Arvid Lindblad.
Overall, their are 13 drivers in the Red Bull Junior Teams. The expectation from the likes of team advisor Helmut Marko is that these juniors will be on the level of Max Verstappen.
The reality is that a driver remotely on Verstappen’s level happens once in a blue moon. Promoting drivers with little time to adapt to F1, like they have done with Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon, and now Liam Lawson, and expecting immediate success, is incredibly short-sighted.
It’s a noble aim to promote drivers from within as much as Red Bull have.
The exception, of course, is Sergio Perez. During his time with the team, it rarely felt like he was backed to the level that Verstappen was.
Indeed, Perez often found his feedback on the car’s performance ignored in order to facilitate Verstappen.
Ferrari and McLaren have better line-up’s because they showed fight to get the best drivers on the grid. Red Bull have to pick the best driver from their pool.
There’s plenty of fish in the sea, but you’re not going to catch a golden carp in the local pond.
A Team Built in Verstappen’s Talented Shadow
Verstappen is an incredibly talented driver, that there is little doubt about.
In a weird way though, is he too talented?
The Red Bull car has been designed around Verstappen’s incredibly unique driving style.
Whilst that has allowed the Dutchman to achieve incredible results and four World Drivers’ Championships, it’s alienated any success that his teammates could have.
The common struggle with the second driver at the team is that they often have to drive within themselves just to stay on the track.
This leaves them tenths, or even seconds, slower than Verstappen.
So what if Verstappen left?
There are heavy rumours that Verstappen could make a switch to either Mercedes or Aston Martin in the coming years.
If that did happen, and Verstappen won’t always be at that team, what will Red Bull do?
They’ll be left with a car that for the majority of the grid can’t drive, and without their star driver.
For all his talent and skill, Verstappen has made Red Bull dependant on him, both a blessing and a curse.