Red Bull reveals upgrade timeline to challenge McLaren

Red Bull is targeting upgrades within "three to five races" to address its main deficit to McLaren, according to team advisor Helmut Marko.

Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson's team has begun the season trailing defending constructors' champion McLaren, which demonstrated superior pace in both Bahrain testing and the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

McLaren's clear advantage

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri secured a front-row lockout in Australia, qualifying three-tenths ahead of Verstappen.

In the race, both McLarens pulled away from the Dutchman once his intermediate tyres began degrading.

Despite Lawson crashing out and Piastri spinning, a resilient Verstappen managed to claim second behind Norris, minimizing Red Bull's points deficit.

The tyre degradation problem

Marko identified tyre wear as the critical difference between the two teams, with specific upgrades already in development.

"We knew from the tests in Bahrain that the McLarens were quite a bit faster than us," Marko told Viaplay.

"We reduced this advantage, I would say, from half a second to two or three tenths."

"We can follow them for six to eight laps, but then our tyre degradation comes earlier.

That's the main problem with some other problems as well. But we know them, and they are working hard."

Marko emphasized: "In three to five races hopefully we can cure it, so that we have a car on the same level as the McLaren."

Racing against time

Red Bull faces mounting pressure to reclaim its performance advantage before focus inevitably shifts toward the all-new 2026 regulations.

This challenge seems particularly daunting considering last season's development missteps.

Around this time last year, the team veered in the wrong direction, struggling to balance the RB20 until finding solutions late in the season.

A more stable platform

Despite these concerns, team principal Christian Horner remains optimistic, believing the RB21 provides a more stable development foundation.

Horner suggests that improving front-to-rear balance in upcoming races will naturally resolve some of their tyre wear issues.

"Yes, when you have a car that's well balanced, the whole world looks different," he explained.

"This car's characteristics are much calmer than the RB20."

"There aren't the nasty snaps that there were on the RB20, so that gives us a good, dynamic platform to develop the car from through the season."