Huge question mark at Red Bull posed as “things start to go really wrong”

The competitiveness of the Red Bull has been hit with major questions after the F1 Spanish Grand Prix.

The first race with the new regulation clamping down on flexi-wings made little difference to McLaren, who secured their first 1-2 finish of 2025.

Meanwhile, an angry Max Verstappen clashed with George Russell leading to a time penalty which demoted him to 10th.

He left the paddock questioning whether he was even able to contend for the drivers’ title against Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

“Maybe the moment he gave up, in a way, his options,” Spanish journalist Jesús Balseiro told the F1 Nation podcast in Barcelona.

“I spoke to another driver who knows about fighting with a less competitive car, Fernando Alonso.

“He was saying that maybe this was a relief that [Max] doesn’t have to fight anymore with worse arms for something which may be impossible against these McLarens.

“It doesn’t look smart to lose a P5 on merit which could have been a P3.

“I don’t understand why Max was that mad.

“The situation with Red Bull, having a set of hard tyres and having to give back the position… maybe this was a situation which wasn’t well played by Red Bull.”

'Where will Red Bull be close' to McLaren?

Julianne Cerasoli added a stern warning: “We will look back at this grand prix and think it was when things started to go really wrong for Red Bull.

“This track has a lot of fast corners. They were doing well in the fast corners, before.

“Saudi, Japan, Imola - they seemed able to fight McLaren in the fast corners. Here? Fast corners but medium speed.

“I was really surprised by the gap in qualifying, three tenths. And the gap in the race too.

“Put that in Max’s account for frustration.

“Everyone expected Red Bull to be closer to McLaren here. And if they’re not close here, then where will they be close?”

Verstappen later apologised for his part in the clash with Russell.

Christian Horner revealed that Verstappen expressed regret in their team debrief, too.

But questions have also been asked of Red Bull surrounding their tyre strategy, and their decision to tell Verstappen to let Russell through.

But an even bigger headache surrounds the performance of the RB21 compared to F1’s fastest car, which is in McLaren’s garage.

Starkly, Verstappen’s teammate Yuki Tsunoda qualified last in Barcelona.

Red Bull have sunk to fourth in the constructors’ behind McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari who each have two drivers capable of scoring points.