Red Bull’s pitstop errors in recent Formula 1 Grands Prix cannot be blamed on the team’s background reshuffle, reigning World Champion Max Verstappen has insisted.
Verstappen endured a tough weekend at the Miami Grand Prix, finishing fourth and 40 seconds down on eventual winner Oscar Piastri, despite starting on pole position.
However, his brilliant lap was not the whole story of Verstappen’s Saturday, because during the preceding truncated Sprint race, it all went horribly wrong.
A win looked possible for the Dutchman, but an unsafe release by the team saw him collide with the Mercedes of Andrea Kimi Antonelli, causing front wing damage to the Red Bull.
This subsequently led to a 10-second time penalty, and Verstappen could not recover any ground, ultimately finishing in 17th place, the last driver still running.
After the race, Verstappen intimated that he laid down the law on his mechanics, knowing that the team needs to be perfect in every way in order to have any discernible chance of keeping up with the McLaren pair.
“I came into the garage after the race and of course they already knew it themselves, but you have to understand that I’m not happy about it either,” he said.
When asked if these errors will lead to further damage of his title defence, Verstappen said: “That’s true, but they know that too.
“It really shouldn’t happen, but it does. We need to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Red Bull problems leave questions on personnel
This was not the first issue Red Bull has endured in 2025, with Verstappen enduring sluggish stops in Bahrain, though this was down to a fault with the equipment.
However, it has raised suspicions around the usually well-drilled Red Bull pit staff, with the background reshuffle over the last several months already well known.
The team has had to suffer the loss of Sporting Director Jonathan Wheatley, who is now heading up the nascent Audi project, as well as being boss of Sauber amid its transition into the German marque’s works team.
Adrian Newey has, of course, departed to Aston Martin, and longstanding and well-respected engineer Calum Nicholas has moved into an ambassadorial role.
The outgoings have caused these changes, with Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase continuing his role alongside that of Head of Race Engineering.
But Verstappen was quick to point out that changes in the background should not be used as an excuse/.
“Yes, of course, some people have been rotated,” he acknowledged.
“Certain people now have different roles, but I think it’s too easy to immediately blame it on that. It just shouldn’t happen, that’s very clear.”
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