Max Verstappen recognizes that Red Bull may not be able to match McLaren’s race pace in the near future, despite various upgrades planned for the 2025 Formula 1 car. Even after recent upgrades, Verstappen finished significantly behind McLaren at the Miami Grand Prix, highlighting McLaren’s superior race pace. Verstappen anticipates only a slight performance improvement from the latest upgrades and does not expect to close the gap to McLaren suddenly. The upcoming Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona will bring further upgrades and a stricter technical directive on flexing front wings, but Verstappen doubts it will significantly impact the gap with McLaren. Red Bull is still puzzled by McLaren’s exceptional rear tyre management in high degradation races, which remains a major concern for the team. Verstappen emphasized that understanding McLaren’s advantage in tyre management will take time and may be track-specific, indicating that Pirelli’s softer tyres at Imola might not favor Red Bull’s performance.
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