Max Verstappen reduced his title deficit to 22 points with that second win of 2025, prompting inevitable questions about a fifth consecutive championship.
Helmut Marko needed little time to temper the afterglow of Max Verstappen’s commanding victory in Italy.
“The car is now doing what Max wants again,” he told Austria’s OE24. “That’s down to the updates, which fortunately worked.”
Seconds later came the warning: “It was just Imola, things could look very different again at the next Grand Prix.”
Slow-corner Doubt the Monte Carlo Cloud
Red Bull’s senior consultant pointed to Monaco’s tight hairpins and endless low-speed traction zones.
He labelled the principality “a completely different circuit with only slow corners” before warning, “things could be a lot worse there.”
Last season the RB20 worked its way to sixth on the grid and finished P6, exposing a rare low-speed weakness that McLaren exploited again in Miami earlier this year.
Updates restore faith, but only on fast tracks
Verstappen’s pass around the outside of Oscar Piastri at Tamburallo illustrated a nimble RB21 finally free from the under-steaminess that plagued it in April.
The Dutchman reduced the title deficit to 22 points with that second win of 2025, raising inevitable questions about a fifth consecutive championship.
Marko pushed back, insisting the title fight would hinge on versatility over 24 races, not a Sunday suspension in Emilia Romagna.
Verstappen echoes cautious line
“This track has a lot of high-speed corners, which I think our car likes,” said Verstappen after rocking the podium at Imola.
“[The next race in] Monaco is obviously very, very different. So, let’s see how we perform there. Last year was very difficult for us. I don’t expect it to be much easier this time because there is obviously a lot of low speed, but we’ll see.
“I mean, it’s just a race on the calendar, where you try to do your best.”
Drivers’ skill could tip the balance
Marko admits that Monaco brings out the raw talent: “Max proved once again with his maneuver at the beginning that he is the best: only he can recognize the gap and then exploit it.”
If Red Bull’s balance falters at the hairpins, Verstappen can still salvage points through qualifying heroics and wall-to-wall precision.
But with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris excelling at slow-speed handling and Ferrari desperate for a home-continent bounce, Red Bull enter Monte Carlo knowing their Imola comfort zone won’t follow them to the Riviera.
