Verstappen says Red Bull has to find more consistency to make another 2025-style comeback possible

Max Verstappen says Red Bull still has time on its side but needs to be stronger all-round in order to be able to dream of a 2025-style world championship comeback.

Last season, Verstappen slipped 104 points behind then-leader Oscar Piastri and 70 adrift of eventual champion Lando Norris with nine rounds remaining, as Red Bull struggled with an inconsistent car. Improvements then enabled the Dutchman to win six of the last nine races and finish on the podium in the other three, as he fell just two points short of a stunning fifth title.

After a season’s best second place in the Austrian Grand Prix featured Verstappen fighting George Russell for victory, he says the experience of last year shows the current 98-point deficit to Kimi Antonelli isn’t insurmountable with at least 14 rounds to go, but needs a stronger Red Bull in all areas.

“I think there are more races left than last year, but it’s a very big gap,” Verstappen said. “I think for us we had very good pace, but I think to fight for a title we need to be more all-around. I think we still have too many issues, if that’s from a start to just procedural issues in the background, that even I think you guys [media] don’t know about, but I know about.

“It’s not a big criticism or whatever. I think everyone is aware but we always want to be better; we chase to be the best. So, we just need to focus on all of those things.

“And then, yes, if we are a bit more, let’s say, rock solid – and we’ve shown that in the past – then of course it’s a different story. But hopefully it doesn’t take too long. We have still a little bit of work to do.”

Verstappen believes there are no obvious areas where Red Bull is lacking pace compared to Mercedes based on his Austria performance, but that it also lacks a clear advantage and has areas to tidy up.

“I started fifth, I was closing the gap constantly every stint, so, I don’t know – it’s hard [to identify a deficit]," he said. "I was catching George, Kimi was catching me. Yes, it was close. We still have some areas of course that we want to work on within the car. Half of the race I ran a car that was not in top shape. Plus, my brakes were not really functioning well compared to the rest of the weekend. So that’s something that of course you manage and you learn how to drive with it, but it’s not ideal.

“It’s stuff that we’ll look back at and try to understand. But for us, this has already been a very big step forward compared to the previous races. Look at the last race [in Barcelona]. In the race, I was just by myself, really not challenging anything. So, on a track that the tires are degrading, that’s a good sign.”