Difficult qualifying for Verstappen in Mexico City
It was a disappointing qualifying session for Max Verstappen at the 2025 Mexican Grand Prix. The Dutch driver finished only fifth, half a second behind pole-sitter Lando Norris, after struggling with serious grip problems on his Red Bull RB21. Despite coming off several strong performances in recent races, Max Verstappen admitted that he did not expect such a frustrating result in Mexico.
From the very first practice sessions, Max Verstappen had been complaining about a lack of grip that continued to trouble him throughout qualifying, preventing him from fighting for the front rows. The much-anticipated upgrades introduced by Red Bull have not yet delivered the desired improvements. It’s likely that the unique conditions of Mexico City, with its high altitude and thin air, do not suit the latest evolution of the RB21 at this stage of the season.
In particular, Max Verstappen seemed to struggle the most through the sequence of corners leading into the Foro Sol stadium section, where the rear end of his car appeared unstable several times. The Red Bull looked nervous and unpredictable, forcing Verstappen to fight just to keep the car under control during his flying laps.
However, there was at least one small reason for Red Bull to smile: someone else is having an even tougher time. Oscar Piastri continues to struggle with his McLaren and has not yet overcome the difficulties that have plagued him for several races. The Australian will be forced into another recovery drive if he wants to minimize the damage to his title hopes this weekend.
Mexican GP 2025 – Red Bull, Verstappen: “I had everything you don’t want in a car”
After the session, Max Verstappen didn’t hold back his frustration. The Red Bull driver admitted that the team had tried numerous setup combinations throughout the weekend to fix the lack of grip, but none of them worked as intended. “I had no grip at all,” Verstappen said. “Everything you don’t want in your car, I had it. In general, we’ve been off the pace all weekend. We tried different things, but unfortunately nothing seemed to work. We attempted to fix it, but we didn’t succeed. On top of that, I’m still worried about the race pace — so far, it’s been a disaster.”
Starting from fifth will make his comeback even more difficult, especially with Lando Norris looking unbeatable this weekend. Still, the four-time world champion could take advantage of Oscar Piastri’s struggles to close the gap in the championship standings and increase the pressure heading into the final rounds of the Formula 1 season.
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