Former world champion Damon Hill has a bleak outlook for Red Bull. While Max Verstappen was able to put up a fight against McLaren in 2024, the British driver observes that the papayas are virtually unbeatable in the current season. Particularly under race conditions, the MCL39 appears to be much faster than Max Verstappen’s RB21. Even with the latest upgrades, the Austrians couldn’t make a significant impact.
During the recent Miami GP, Red Bull introduced a new floor, but despite this, Max Verstappen finished off the podium. Moreover, race winner Oscar Piastri crossed the finish line with a forty-second lead. Teammate Lando Norris followed in his wake. Damon Hill believes that Red Bull will have to do a lot of work before they can close the gap with McLaren. “Red Bull can only look on with envy,” said the former Williams driver to the BBC.
‘Red Bull Falls Short Over a Race Distance’
“They came with a new floor on Max Verstappen‘s car, with a number of new cut-outs on the side. They thought it would yield improvements in the hunt for McLaren, but it clearly wasn’t enough,” Hill emphasized that Verstappen can make the difference in qualifying, but his Red Bull simply falls short over a race distance. “He can do it in qualifying,” said Hill. “Then he gets a hundred percent out of the car and that’s enough to be six-thousandths faster, or something as ridiculous as that.”
“Then he secures pole position or a spot on the front row, as he has done several times this season,” Hill explained. “But in the race, it’s just ruthless – it’s all about tire wear and maintaining grip. If your car is better, you can save your tires, but Verstappen clearly couldn’t. As soon as he pushed a little more, he fell back. So at Red Bull, they are aware that they have a lot of work to do,” Hill concluded. “They have to make up a thirty-second deficit. That’s going to take a lot of time.”
