“They all retire!” Max Verstappen sees no hope for Chinese GP Win

Red Bull has suffered from a streak of mediocre performances in the 2025 season. Max Verstappen could only manage a P2 finish at the season-opener in Australia due to the lackluster pace of the RB21 challenger. Moreover, Verstappen couldn’t quite keep up with the frontrunners throughout the Chinese GP weekend. The Dutchman managed to achieve a P4 start in the main race of the Chinese GP. Now, the 27-year-old has taken a dig at his chances to score the race win on Sunday.

Max Verstappen was unhappy with Red Bull’s pace ever since the pre-season testing in Bahrain. The Dutchman didn’t hesitate to accept back then that Milton Keynes wouldn’t be the fastest team this season. On top of that, Verstappen couldn’t clinch the victory over Lando Norris at the Australian GP despite the latter committing multiple mistakes.

Speaking upon a P4 start in China, Verstappen didn’t seem too confident of his winning chances. The track conditions seem unfavorable for the reigning world champion despite his attempts at improving performance. The 27-year-old was questioned about the conditions that were required for him to emerge victorious on Sunday. The four-time champion had a hilarious reaction to the same.

Verstappen funnily reckoned that he could win the race only if all the rivals ahead of him were to retire from the race. This meant that the Dutchman was not at all confident in his Red Bull chassis against the opponents. The 27-year-old reiterated that he meant whatever he said due to multiple reasons. Primarily, Milton Keynes was not fast enough to compete with the dominant pace of the McLarens at the forefront.

Max Verstappen asserts Red Bull’s RB21 chassis ‘simply too slow’

Red Bull implemented multiple upgrades on the RB21 chassis in hopes of improving performances against its rivals. However, as depicted by the results, the team has failed to develop a challenger dominant enough to contend for race wins. Max Verstappen took shots at the 2025 car and that it was too slow despite the team dominating a majority of the ground-effect era.

Verstappen pointed out that he felt good driving the car initially, especially after driving a similar spec in previous years. Due to this, the 27-year-old attempted to drive around the problems and try to avoid them while out on the track. However, the Dutchman felt that now the chassis had become simply too slow on track and was unable to contend for the race wins.

Max Verstappen hopes for better race pace in China after updates to the car

Red Bull still doesn’t seem to give up and has brought in multiple updates to the RB21 chassis ahead of the Chinese GP. The Qualifying session provided some information about where the car lacked pace against the rivals. Max Verstappen has pointed out that he now hopes for a better outing on Sunday following these updates to the car.

Verstappen noted that the qualifying session was quite tough for him. The 27-year-old revealed that he couldn’t get a consistent grip which caused difficulties in nailing a single lap. Regardless, the Dutchman looked positive for improving performances after highlighting the upgrades brought in. The reigning champion speculates that the changes would make the race pace a bit better than before, especially against the rivals.

Red Bull still has the massive task of finding massive ground for improvements against its rivals throughout the season. The team might quickly lose the running for the constructors’ championship if a similar pace continues down the year. Additionally, Verstappen might face massive difficulties in maintaining his consecutive championship-winning streak this year.

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