Red Bull’s Max Verstappen is anticipating a “difficult” 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Verstappen came into this weekend knowing that if he is outscored by nine points by Lando Norris then his title defence would be mathematically over, yet he proved competitive in all three practice sessions and qualifying where he qualified second on the grid in wet conditions.
The 28-year-old Dutchman however didn’t enjoy the wet track conditions due to cold temperatures which left the circuit like an ice rink in his eyes, despite his love for wet-weather driving.
“The conditions weren’t fun, it was really slippery on the track and it felt like driving on ice. I love driving in the wet but this was too much and you had to be super careful.
“It was very low grip and you had to be consistent and make no mistakes, but you just trust your instinct and feeling within the car and need to trust what you are doing.”
Verstappen however felt that he managed to maximise his performance despite a lack of grip to properly fight for pole, despite having been on provisional pole in the closing moments until Norris snatched pole away from him at the checkered flag.
“Despite this, we maximised the potential of the car and we did everything as best we could, so that was all positive. Q1 and Q2 is always tricky to get right but we did well and in Q3 I think we just lacked a bit of grip to fight further up and we weren’t in contention for Pole.”
Tyre management though will be key which Verstappen feels is a weakness within Red Bull’s RB21 car, especially with no data gathered on the hard tyre.
“Second is good and the focus is, of course, on tomorrow and it will be about who can keep the tyres alive, which we haven’t been the best at. We will see how we perform on the Hard compound as we have no information on it yet.
“The biggest concern is making sure we have the race pace: it will be difficult but if we have the opportunity we will go for it.”
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