Max Verstappen makes worrying Red Bull prediction for rest of F1 2025

Max Verstappen believes Red Bull won’t be able to win another F1 race this season.

The four-time world champion’s prediction came after he qualified a season’s worst eighth and could only finish ninth - his worst result of the year - at last weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

Verstappen finished behind the Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson, his former teammate, and was nearly lapped by McLaren’s Lando Norris, who won the race.

And Verstappen does not think things will improve for Red Bull following the summer break.

Asked by the Dutch media if Red Bull could win another race this year, Verstappen replied: "No, not the way things are going right now. That's just the way it is. It's clear.

"There's nothing I can do about it. I could get angry, but that won't make the car any faster.”

Verstappen, who has committed to Red Bull for the 2026 season, conceded “nothing is working” as the team try to fix the issues hampering the lacklustre performance of their RB21 challenger.

“We’ve tried a lot of different things, but at the moment nothing is working,” he explained. “Of course, I have some ideas, but I can’t always talk about them publicly. We’ll just have to wait and analyse everything after the weekend.

“In the end, it doesn’t hurt that much now because we’re not really fighting for anything anymore.”

Speaking to Sky Sports F1, the Dutchman added: "It has been a very difficult weekend. Very low grip and not much we could make out of it.

"It's very complicated to explain. Nothing worked unfortunately. In Spa, we had a much more competitive weekend.

"I know we are not on the level of McLaren but they have also done a good job this year.”

Was Hungary a true reflection of where Red Bull are?

However, new Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies is confident a disappointing weekend in Hungary is not a true reflection of the car’s competitiveness.

"I don't think what you see this weekend represents where the car is at," Mekies said. ”We accept the fact that we are probably not very strong on tracks like here, but what we have seen today was outstanding.

"If you look, no question McLaren are faster, but look at Spa, Max was able to fight certainly on Saturday and surprise everyone in the sprint. Let's see.”

Mekies added: "It will not change the fact that we have a narrow window.

"But I think to be dramatically out of it like that, I'm also quite confident that with all the tests we've done in Budapest, including into the race, I'm quite confident also that it will be a one-off.

"It is true that it was mainly a slow-speed and a mid-speed matter. Therefore, it points towards more tyre usage and the tyre being switched on more than our performance."