Max Verstappen faced a challenging yet insightful race at the 2025 F1 Chinese GP with his RB21, ultimately finishing fourth in a contest dominated by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.
Strategic tyre management at the F1 Chinese GP for Verstappen
Starting from fourth on the grid, Verstappen encountered difficulties during the initial laps, struggling to match the pace of the leading McLarens, George Russell and the Ferraris as he slipped back to P6 at turn 2.
Reflecting on his first stint he acknowledged that, while his pace was comparable to his competitors, maintaining his own rhythm was crucial.
Verstappen’s strategy focused on tyre conservation, aiming to avoid the aggressive degradation experienced in the Sprint on Saturday as he lost P2 to Oscar Piastri.
Despite this approach, he found himself unable to match the performance level of the leading cars early on in the race as he dropped to around 5s behind the Ferraris at one point.
“The first lap worked out nicely because my pace anyway was up not to their standards.
“To be behind them was actually better, because I just drove my own pace like we set out to do. In the Sprint, and also of course in Australia, you try to fight, but then you degrade your tyres very aggressively.
“But at the moment it is not, let’s say, the level of the others around me.”
Hard tyre brings improvement
A switch to the hard tyre compound in the second stint brought a noticeable improvement. Initially, Verstappen continued to struggle, but as the race progressed his grip and pace improved, allowing him to close the gap to the frontrunners. By the end he had race winning pace.
“But then on the hard tyre, I think it got a little bit better. In the beginning of that stint, I was still struggling for pace and they drove away, but actually then at the end, the grip came to me and we seemed to be a little bit more comfortable.”
The chase of Charles Leclerc
This resurgence enabled Verstappen to engage in battles on track, notably overtaking Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc before a subsequent disqualification for car 16 being underweight at the F1 Chinese GP. Reflecting on this phase of the race, Verstappen expressed a degree of optimism as he finished P4, just over 5s behind George Russell.
“I didn’t really expect to have any kind of battle. It gives us a bit more hope and probably a direction to look into, but it’s of course still not where we want to be, if you compare it to the McLaren especially.
“But at least, yeah, there we were a bit more competitive, and I would say we did what we can.”
Weather conditions and their impact
The cooler, overcast conditions during the F1 Chinese GP did not significantly impact the car’s performance, according to Verstappen:
“I mean, it wasn’t that much cooler. A bit more overcast, but beginning of the race, I think it was very similar. So I don’t think it’s in the temperatures or the track.”
Looking ahead to the future
Looking ahead, Verstappen emphasised the importance of continuous development and collaboration with his team to address the performance gaps:
“We just keep working. We just have to stick together, push hard. That’s what we all do. I know that — I know that the team is working flat out. I never doubted that anyway, you know. So yeah, we just keep on trying to improve.”
Despite a challenging start, Max Verstappen’s resilience and focus allowed him to recover during the race, demonstrating once again why he’s one of the best in the business. While Red Bull may not have been at the top in China, the insights gained from this race will be crucial for the remainder of the season.
