The second free practice session of the Australian Grand Prix, the first round of the 2025 F1 World Championship, saw a Red Bull resembling the last day of testing in Bahrain, still searching for the ideal balance of the RB21s to achieve the performance necessary to place in the positions befitting the Milton Keynes team.
Max Verstappen’s seventh place, more than 6 tenths behind Charles Leclerc’s reference time (+0.624s), and Liam Lawson’s 17th place, 1.201 seconds off, perfectly reflect the difficulties of a team that seems less solid, with fewer certainties within it.
The RB21s, which started decently in the first practice session, progressively faced difficulties during the afternoon session. The car suffered from understeer, which gradually turned into oversteer. This kept the two Milton Keynes drivers from reaching the top of the time sheets.
However, in Red Bull, there is always someone with strong confidence even in the most complex situations. Helmut Marko analyzed the team’s day, admittedly not hiding what couldn’t be hidden, but showing a level of trust that is hard to understand when looking at the timing sheets.
“The car’s performance was better in the first session. As soon as we started making changes, it became more twitchy, shifting from understeer to oversteer. This is why we couldn’t replicate the McLaren times. We are two or three steps behind, but I think we should be able to get a better setup for tomorrow.”
Helmut Marko often referred to McLaren as the fastest team, avoiding discussion of the others. Today, however, he acknowledged that Ferrari and Mercedes are also fast, but both are behind the team led by Andrea Stella and, importantly, both are contenders with Red Bull for the role of top challenger.
“Ferrari is also fast, especially Charles Leclerc. As I said, behind McLaren, it will be a tight battle between Mercedes, Ferrari, and us.” – he pointed out at the end of the second free practice session for the Australian Grand Prix.
Marko also commented on Red Bull’s other team, Racing Bulls. Yuki Tsunoda’s fourth-fastest time and Isack Hadjar’s sixth-fastest were impressive, but the Austrian consultant revealed what had led the VCARB02s to both be in the Top 6.
“We’ll have to see how strong Racing Bulls are compared to Williams. We don’t know that yet. Regarding this duel, I’m afraid Williams might be ahead, and they’re predicting rain on Sunday. That will make things even more interesting if it really happens. Racing Bulls ran with low fuel and competitive engine mappings to try and balance the cars without compromising too much on speed. It’s been a strategy, the usual one they adopt.” – the Red Bull advisor concluded.
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