HALF TERM REPORT: Red Bull’s best and worst moments from 2025 so far and driver head-to-heads

Following one of the most dominant seasons of all time in 2023, and a stellar start to 2024 that set up Max Verstappen for a fourth consecutive Drivers’ title, it’s hard to comprehend where Red Bull find themselves – fourth in the 2025 Teams’ Standings and a whopping 365 points behind leaders McLaren. While the team still have Verstappen’s magic in their armoury, car performance hasn't been consistent and reliable point scoring from the second seat remains absent. With Red Bull also making the call in July to promote Laurent Mekies into the role of Team Principal in place of long-time boss Christian Horner, there’s plenty of change afoot at the Milton Keynes operation. Here is their half term report for 2025…

Best finish

Max Verstappen – 1st in Japan and Emilia-Romagna

If ever you needed visual evidence that Verstappen was still performing at the top of his game in 2025, then look no further than his victories in Japan and Imola.

The former result came about following a truly special pole lap in Qualifying that stunned both the paddock and Verstappen himself. His 1m 26.983s effort was the fastest lap in Suzuka history and sparked debate as to whether it was the best pole lap of his entire F1 career – it was that good. That set him up for a stellar Sunday performance as he went on to take Grand Prix victory ahead of the McLaren pair of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

In Imola we got to witness even more ‘Max magic’. Starting second on the grid, Verstappen executed a truly sublime pass on Piastri through the Tamburello chicane on the opening lap before going on to seal his second Grand Prix victory of the season.

Without a doubt, Verstappen is still operating at the levels of a champion even if Red Bull’s performance dip has stopped him adding even more to his Grand Prix victory tally.

Qualifying head-to-head

Verstappen 12-0 Tsunoda
Verstappen 2-0 Lawson

Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the trouble Red Bull have had with their second seat, Verstappen has dominated the Qualifying head-to-head statistics against both Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson, with the New Zealander dropped back down to Racing Bulls after the first two rounds of the season.

It continues a trend that has existed long before this current campaign. Sergio Perez was outqualified by Verstappen 20-2 in 2023, and was also on the wrong side of the 2024 head-to-head 23-1.

While Tsunoda has displayed some signs of progress in the run up to the summer break, his best Qualifying result in 2025 remains his P5 in Australia – when he was a Racing Bulls driver.

His best Qualifying finish with the senior team was his P7 in Belgium, but the subsequent “miscommunication” on race day left him unable to score points in a Grand Prix where he had the potential to do so.

Race head-to-head

Verstappen 11-1 Tsunoda
Verstappen 2-0 Lawson

The Verstappen domination continues in the race head-to-heads too, with Tsunoda only coming out on top once – after the four-time World Champion had to retire from the Austrian Grand Prix following a collision with Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli on the first lap. Tsunoda went on to finish a lowly 16th in Spielberg, which marked a desperately disappointing day for Red Bull at their home race.

However, to further demonstrate the gulf between Verstappen and his team mate, you only need to look at the Drivers’ Standings. Verstappen sits third with 187 points while Tsunoda lies down in 18th with 10 points (three of which were scored when he was a Racing Bulls driver).

For Verstappen’s former team mate Lawson, he now lies 15th in the standings with 20 points – all scored following his return to the sister team after China.

Best moment

Verstappen’s pass on Piastri in Imola is certainly a worthy moment to note, but we’re going to go for his victory in Japan.

It was the perfect weekend for the Red Bull man, with his stonking Saturday pole lap setting up his run to victory on the Sunday. It also cemented him as a candidate at the head of the Drivers’ Championship alongside the McLaren duo, even if that gap has widened in recent weeks as Red Bull struggle to get the maximum out of their package.

Worst moment

The Hungarian Grand Prix before the August break was a challenge for everyone at Red Bull, with Verstappen only able to finish ninth while Tsunoda came home in 17th, but the team’s Austrian Grand Prix trumps it.

As home events go, this year’s race in Spielberg could hardly have gone any worse. Verstappen was punted out into retirement in his aforementioned collision with Antonelli, while Tsunoda trailed home as last of the runners amid four DNFs across the grid that day.

That point-less round intensified the scrutiny on Red Bull’s drop off in performance, and illustrated what could happen without Verstappen's magic behind the wheel.

Going forward

After 20 years with Horner at the helm, Red Bull’s new era with Mekies as CEO and Team Principal is still in its infancy. But, while the former Racing Bulls boss beds in, much of the squad’s to-do list remains the same.

One item can at least be ticked off – securing Verstappen for the immediate future. Much was said about Mercedes boss Toto Wolff’s interest in the Dutchman over the last couple of months – rumours that were heightened when George Russell suggested that the Silver Arrows had been having “conversations” with the World Champion – but Verstappen put those to bed in Hungary when he confirmed he was staying.

Attention now turns to the two other pressing items on the agenda; rediscovering performance with 2026 on the horizon and sorting out the second seat.

Tsunoda is the latest driver to struggle alongside Verstappen, though it appears the Japanese driver will have until the end of 2025 to prove he deserves another shot, but his results are indicative of a wider problem. For whatever reason, unless you’re a certain four-time World Champion, drivers are struggling to deliver with the Red Bull car – and you can’t win a Teams’ title without two cars scoring.

While there was a hint of progress for Tsunoda in the run up to the August break, the team’s efforts for the rest of the year need to be geared towards helping him improve further – otherwise there could be another addition to the club that already includes Lawson, Perez, Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly.

More generally, Red Bull need to get back to fighting for wins and titles. It’s where the team expect to be and nothing short of that will do.

Mekies acknowledged as much when speaking exclusively to F1.com last month, saying: "There is only one desire at Red Bull. And it goes from the board to anybody at Red Bull F1. They are here to fight for the wins, to fight for the championships."

Time will tell as to what Red Bull's rebuild can deliver...