Late Max Verstappen boost emerges after pre-Aus GP sim session

Max Verstappen has a “much more positive feeling” now heading into the Australian Grand Prix after a productive Red Bull RB21 simulator session.

That is the claim put forward by his father Jos Verstappen, who offered an insight into how Bahrain testing was not ideal for the reigning four-time World Champion, a situation boosted significantly by this time spent in the simulator on the eve of the Australian Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen now ‘much more positive’ on Red Bull RB21

While testing times are notoriously unreliable, it was the pace shown by McLaren on their race simulations which really turned the heads of rivals, Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko claiming McLaren displayed an advantage of one second per lap.

PlanetF1.com’s?best guess over the F1 2025 pecking order starting out, formed from conversations with teams across the paddock and trackside observations, indeed places McLaren as the front-runner, followed by Red Bull/Mercedes and Ferrari behind them.

Verstappen meanwhile had written off hopes of him making a winning start in Melbourne as he chases a fifth World Championship in a row, with Red Bull technical director Pierre Wache admitting that their new creation – the RB21 – “did not respond how we wanted at times” to setup changes during the Bahrain test.

However, it would appear that Verstappen headed to Melbourne with “a much more positive feeling”, as his father Jos detailed what may prove a very important simulator session for Red Bull’s star driver.

Speaking on Joe radio, Jos said: “The first day of testing, Max was super happy. Then they changed parts again and you name it, then he didn’t like the feeling as much.

“Then they went back to how it was on Wednesday, but he didn’t get back the feeling he had on Wednesday. So that just makes it even harder to see where you stand, it’s just very unclear.

“Let me put it this way… Max was not satisfied. You can call it that, but there is a difference between dissatisfied and not satisfied. He is definitely one hundred per cent behind the team and is confident, because he was in England just last week.

“That’s where he is in the simulator and when he came back he had a much more positive feeling, so let’s hope we can continue that.”

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Verstappen and Red Bull had dominated F1’s ground effect era until last year, after a trademark formidable start fizzled out with balance issues setting into the RB20, as the team at one stage went 10 races without a win.

Red Bull slipped to P3 in the Constructors’ behind McLaren and Ferrari, but Verstappen withstood the charge of McLaren’s Lando Norris to secure his fourth World Championship on the trot.

But, with the points tallies back to zero, Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes all enter F1 2025 with title aspirations, and Jos would like to see a multi-team fight.

“You just don’t know where you stand,” Jos reiterated. “I hope it will be an exciting season for everyone and that a few teams will be on equal footing, and then it will be exciting.”

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