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Daily Mirror
23-04-2025
- Automotive
- Daily Mirror
Sebastian Vettel sends plea to Max Verstappen and Red Bull in 'decisive' verdict
Former Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel has offered his verdict on the relationship beetween Max Verstappen and Red Bull after a difficult start to the 2025 season Mav Verstappen and Red Bull have been advised to stick together amid their early season difficulty. Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel accepted that it is a decisive year for the star following his previous successes however. Verstappen is under contract with Red Bull until 2028 but is believed to have a release clause in his deal. The Dutch racer has produced some impressive performances already in 2025, but is contending with a vehicle in the RB21 that is someway behind McLaren's offering. The 27-year-old reigning world champion sits third in the drivers' championship behind Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris after five races. Verstappen took victory at the Japan Grand Prix but has watched on as the McLaren stars have stood atop the podium otherwise. after nine years with the team. There would be no shortage of candidates. Vettel believes Red Bull's difficulties can spark a closer relationship between the parties however. "I think it's the time when you really bond. It's the time, after so many years, you are so close to each other," Vettel told Sky F1. "Some people left and some people came, but whether you win championships or not is happening anyways, it's the nature of F1. "But now is the time where you stick together and you have the chance to bounce back." Sky Sports launches discounted Formula 1 package This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more £43 £35 Sky Get Sky Sports here Product Description Vettel had no shortage of compliments for his former rival however, and accepted that it is a decisive phase of his career. 'Max has incredible talent, he has matured so much over the last couple of years," he said. "I think the way he's constructing his races now is different to the past. It's much smarter. The progression he's made, it's not the lap time or total performance. 'It's more the consistency, the reliability that he's there every time. The time he's taking sometimes to do the move, waiting for when it's the right time to wait. 'He sees the race in front, the opportunities he gets. If he doesn't get the opportunity, then he's back to the aggression. 'He has very good control of himself, and that makes him the strongest at the moment in the grid. Mixing those two, the aggression and the experience, together with the natural speed. it's great to watch and obviously a decisive year for him.' Despite speculation, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has said there has been no contact with Verstappen. "I'm super happy with the line-up we have, I couldn't wish for anything better," said the Austrian. "Max is at Red Bull, we haven't had a conversation, we are continuing our trajectory."
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Isack Hadjar Outperforms His Seat-Swapped Teammates in Japan GP Qualifying
Ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix, Red Bull decided to demote Liam Lawson down to their sister team. This was the third time the team had sent a driver to the team currently known as Vista Cash App Racing Bulls since 2016. With his move to the Racing Bulls, Yuki Tsunoda finally gets a start in Red Bull after being on the lesser sister team for five years. Lawson and Tsunoda would go on to qualify next to each other for the Japan Grand Prix, with neither of them making it to Q3 for the chance to fight for a pole. While Lawson and Tsunoda are set to start in 14th and 15th position, respectively, the other Racing Bulls driver this season outperformed them and will start seventh. Isack Hadjar matched his best qualifying record of the season by making Q3 for the second time this year, the first time being in China. In Q1, Hadjar fought through a mispositioned seatbelt that made his first 20 minutes in the car highly uncomfortable. "It was a nightmare, man," Hadjar told Sky Sports. "I just pulled through; honestly, I'm really proud of me, like the lap I did in Q1 with what I had, unbelievable." Red Bull team boss Christian Horner joked with Sky Sports about the incident, saying he believed that the incident had something to do with "nuts, not sure if it was wheel nuts", before going on to complement the rookie driver on his continued solid performances in qualifying. "Even with that discomfort, to go and achieve that was very impressive," Horner said. Hadjar, through the pain, set a time of 1:28.278 in Q1, three hundredths of a second off the pace from Max Verstappen, the driver on the other end of the Red Bull equation in the opening round. Verstappen would go on to find extra performance in the RB20 to capture his first pole of the year and set a new track record. Since crashing on the formation lap during a rainy Australian Grand Prix, ending with a DNF in 20th in his first start, Hadjar has been one of the highest performing rookies, qualifying and finishing ahead of his past teammate of Tsunoda already once this year and ahead of his new teammate Lawson in all three Grand Prix qualifying session and the China sprint session. He's been the highest-qualifying rookie in both grands prix heading into this weekend, with Kimi Antonelli at Mercedes besting him by one position for the first time this Saturday morning. Hadjar's position as the rookie at Racing Bulls gives him a year to prove his spot and outperform what's expected of him, as Lawson and Tsunoda will be constantly compared to each other as the two drivers given a chance in the Red Bull second car this year. The pressure on Red Bull drivers, not named Max Verstappen this year, is at an all-time high with how early the team was willing to make a major seat change, and for Japan's own Tsunoda, it's the highest. In his first qualifying effort in the RB20, Tsunda failed to make it to Q3 for the first time this year and was outqualified by the driver who vacated his new seat. On the flipside, he brought the notoriously hard-to-drive Red Bull (again by anyone not named Verstappen) out of Q1 for the first time this season. "I think [it's a] great shame for Yuki today, because actually his Q1 was very competitive," Horner told Sky Sports. "He was within a tenth, and it was building nicely. In Q2, he actually didn't go quicker than Q1, he had a big moment at the start of his lap on the new tire, and by the time you've given away three, four tenths, you're never going to get that back." "I think the warm-up didn't go as I wanted," Tsunoda said about his qualifying effort. "I felt, I mean, still learning. How I ended up, I thought it was okay, I knew it was a little bit compromised, but the penalty was pretty big. It's a shame that I couldn't extract the performance from a car. I think that's looking good from Q1 and everything. I felt overall worse and worse throughout." Lawson finished one position ahead of his replacement and made it out of Q3 for the first time this season. This improved qualifying performance creates a slight reprieve for one of the several rookies with mounting pressure. "It was okay, it's a disappointing end to be honest," Lawson said after qualifying 14th. "I think we had a competitive car yesterday, had a good Q1 and we're trying to chase the balance through quality and it got to a point in Q2 when to be honest, we couldn't really tun it much more and unfortunately we just hit a wall and struggled on that run two, honestly it felt like a good lap. It's something we'll obviously review." You Might Also Like You Need a Torque Wrench in Your Toolbox Tested: Best Car Interior Cleaners The Man Who Signs Every Car
