Red Bull mid-season review: A fall from grace

Written by Caitlyn Gordon, Edited by Meghana Sree

As we head into the second half of the 2025 Formula One season after a lengthy summer break, our F1 writers take you through the state of play with each team on the grid.

Red Bull is currently fourth in the standings, with hopes of both the Drivers' and Constructors' titles falling apart | Credit: Formula One

Red Bull have been a powerhouse within the ground-effect era of Formula One, securing 51 mighty wins, four Drivers’ Championships and adding a further three Constructors’ Championships to its team accolades since 2022. 

After rising to the top and dominating for three years, the team started to show cracks at the beginning of 2024. Public scandals and internal politics began to chip away at the team's once formidable structural foundation, with subsequent consequences of key figures such as highly acclaimed designer Adrian Newey and sporting director Jonathan Wheatley departing the team.

The dominance of the once unbreakable team was slowly unravelling with a sudden surge of competition as McLaren found its groove in the latter half of the 2024 season, securing the Constructors’ title that year. 

As the 2025 season began, the once champions fell further from grace as it became apparent the car was unstable with its grip in low-speed corners and difficulties with car balance. With 14 rounds of racing concluded, Red Bull sit fourth in the standings with 194 points, two wins and five podiums under their belt.

High point

Max Verstappen has been a constant for Red Bull, securing both victories as well as the five podiums for the team. 

The Dutchman has made some sensational drives in his career, however, suffering with a sub-par car, Verstappen has had to think outside of the box in hopes of finding just an inch of improvement to contend with the McLarens. 

After finishing second in Australia, it became evident that McLaren’s 2025 challenger was going to be a tough car to compete against compared to the struggling RB21. 

However, a sprinkle of hope for Verstappen’s fifth title was kept alive in Japan, as Verstappen claimed a dominant pole position and went on to win the race despite looming pressure from the McLarens behind, tantalisingly close to swiping the win. 

Max Verstappen's two wins have been the rare highlights of Red Bull's 2025 season | Credit: Formula One

Yet after this victory, hope soon began to fade in the following races, as the McLarens inched ahead with their increased performance.

Despite the championship trophy slowly leaving the grasp of Verstappen, he continued to produce notable performances, including his second victory of the season in Imola. 

After an incident-filled qualifying, with teammate Yuki Tsunoda suffering a significant crash, Verstappen qualified three-hundredths of a second behind Oscar Piastri. Come race day, an excellent first lap overtake saw the Dutchman clinch the lead of the race. He then managed to hold off the two faster McLarens to take victory in Italy.

Verstappen continued to bring in his magic, with a notable pole position ahead of Piastri in Britain – despite facing severe understeer and car balance difficulties throughout practice. 

It’s clear the four-time champion is carrying the team singlehandedly, and in spite of his best efforts, it hasn’t been enough to bid for a fifth consecutive title. 

With the Dutchman currently lagging behind by 97 points, the hopes of five-in-a-row have begun to freeze over.

Low point

The lows have been evident for the team with its biggest blow of the season coming shortly after Round 12 in Britain. 

The news was announced that after 20 years of contribution, Christian Horner was to be dismissed from the team with immediate effect. The news came some months after Horner had been at the centre of a scandal in 2024, with allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards a female employee being revealed. 

Throughout the year, Horner remained in the limelight as Jos Verstappen, father of Red Bull’s star driver, spoke strongly about his disdain towards the Team Principal, stating that the team was at risk of being “torn apart” under Horner’s management. 

This public disagreement created a difficult environment, throwing Max Verstappen into an uncertain position about his future with the team, while key members of Red Bull’s technical and management teams resigned.

With Horner’s departure, Laurent Mekies, the Racing Bulls Team Principal, was announced as both new Team Principal and CEO of the senior team.

Laurent Mekies took over as Team Principal after Christian Horner's sacking | Credit: Formula One

This massive shakeup in the team was preceded by another big change that came just two races into the new season. After some convincing outings at Racing Bulls, Liam Lawson made the step up to the Red Bull second seat after Sergio Pérez’s contract was not renewed. 

The Australian Grand Prix was a difficult debut for the senior team, with the Kiwi knocked out in Q1 when a spin during his final flying lap interrupted his shot at a faster time, leading to a lacklustre 18th. 

On his Grand Prix debut with Red Bull, the young driver continued to struggle, after starting from the pit-lane due to post-qualifying setup changes. 

Rain hammered down at Albert Park throughout the race, meaning a variety of strategies were in play – for Lawson, the gamble was to keep medium tyres on. But this strategy call would ultimately be the demise of his race, with Lawson sliding off and hitting the barriers bringing his weekend to an end on Lap 47.

Lawson looked to bounce back at the following race in China, but he was unable to do so after qualifying last in both the sprint and race. More setup changes were made to his RB21 meaning for the second time in a row, he was starting from the pit lane. 

Despite finishing the race, Lawson rounded out the race in 12th after being unable to optimise his tyres during the operating window making his car difficult to drive. Consequently, Red Bull decided to demote Lawson back to Racing Bulls – in turn providing Yuki Tsunoda his much awaited opportunity at Red Bull.

Yet even this driver change did not fulfil any promises of improving their season. Whilst Tsunoda has entered Q3 on a handful of occasions, his highest qualifying position in Red Bull has only been seventh. On the other hand, Tsunoda’s overall highest qualification of the season was fifth, in the sister team at the Australian opener. 

The Japanese driver finished ninth in his second race with Red Bull in Bahrain, securing two points, with a further two occasions in the points including Saudi Arabia and Imola. The Italian round remains where he last scored a point. 

Yuki Tsunoda made his Red Bull debut at his home round following Liam Lawson's demotion | Credit: Formula One

The difficulties keep persisting for the 25-year-old, but Tsunoda is hopeful with the upgrades package Red Bull have been working on: “I think in terms of the package Red Bull [has brought] so far, it's impressively good. The amount of stuff they've done in the first half of the season [...] is incredible. So I hope we can continue with that [after the break]." 

Looking ahead

Despite many rumours swirling around the Dutchman’s garage regarding his future with the team, in particular a possible linkup with Mercedes, it was clarified at the Austrian Grand Prix that Verstappen will stay with Red Bull for 2026, quickly silencing the speculation and media frenzy. 

Looking forward, all eyes will be on Mekies who took the wheel in Belgium. After leading a favourable weekend in Spa, the following Hungarian Grand Prix didn’t go in Red Bull’s favour as Verstappen finished the race in ninth, his lowest finishing position at the track, while Tsunoda crossed the line in 17th. 

Despite the difficulties, several changes have been made so far to the car with front wing and suspension changes, alongside a new floor which was introduced in Austria. These new upgrades have sparked some hope that, when the season resumes in Zandvoort, they can somehow finish this nightmare season on a relative high.