Guenther Steiner reveals Red Bull's 'biggest challenge' ahead of 2025 F1 season
By Simon Head
It's always tricky to assess the pecking order of F1's teams ahead of a new season, but with the technical regulations well established, it should be an easier task ahead of the 2025 F1 season.
However, former F1 team principal Guenther Steiner has highlighted two key assessments that he's made from the 2024 season that could give the 2025 championship a very different complexion.
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Last season, Red Bull's Max Verstappen captured his fourth F1 Drivers' Championship, but despite the flying Dutchman's performance in the RB1 last year, Steiner warned that things might look very different for Red Bull this season.
That's because he sees McLaren as an even stronger entity this season than they were last year, when their late surge saw them capture the F1 Constructors' Championship.
The papaya team were able to produce their updates quickly, and they made them count as their speed of development, in tandem with their talented driver lineup of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, go from podium outsiders to bona-fide contenders for race wins by the season's end.
Speaking to GPblog, Steiner revealed what he thinks the biggest challenge will be for Red Bull in the face of McLaren's resurgence.
"To find their way again," he said.
"They lost their way a little bit last year, I would say. It was not seen this much because Max bailed them out with the win in Brazil, with the win of the World Championship.
"They were not as good as they finished, while on the other side, I think McLaren were better than they looked like.
"They didn't get everything out of it, while Red Bull with Max, they got out more than they had."
While Verstappen had to squeeze every bit of performance he could out of his Red Bull, Norris and Piastri were powered up by significant updates that helped Norris make a late-season charge.
Ultimately, it wasn't enough to prevent Verstappen from claiming his fourth world title, but with everyone starting from zero again, Steiner thinks McLaren's great strides in car development will stand them in good stead for the 2025 season.
"Look at McLaren. They figured it out pretty quick, so we don't have to see always just the negative," he stated.
"The normal thing is, it takes time to get out of it. But McLaren, they did it in months. Because, when they started at '23, they were nowhere. And then within '23, they got better. So it is possible to do.
"And we don't have to forget last year. End of last year, everybody was very close together. So you don't need half a second, you need two tenths, and you're going from P4 to winning."
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