Red Bull Racing is aiming for victory at the 2025 Formula 1 British Grand Prix, and the key to success might lie in a clever setup decision made by Max Verstappen and his engineering team. After clinching pole position on Saturday at Silverstone, the Dutchman now sets his sights on winning the race—and there appears to be a “trick” behind his advantage over both Scuderia Ferrari and McLaren. The revelation came from Lando Norris himself, who expressed concern about the Red Bull Racing RB21’s superior top speed, especially on the long straights of the British circuit. According to Norris, trying to stay close to the Dutchman’s car in the high-speed sections may ultimately be futile due to the impact of dirty air and Red Bull’s aerodynamic efficiency.
Heading into the Silverstone weekend, the expectation was for McLaren to dominate, particularly after their commanding performance at the Austrian Grand Prix. However, Friday’s free practice sessions and Saturday’s qualifying quickly turned those predictions on their head. Instead of a McLaren MCL39 leading the way, it was once again Max Verstappen in his Red Bull RB21 who emerged as the front-runner. And when it comes to tire management, Scuderia Ferrari also appeared to be back in contention, presenting a revived challenge.
The cars from Maranello and Woking—the Ferrari SF-25 and McLaren MCL39—seem to hold the greatest potential in terms of long-run race pace. This was confirmed by McLaren team principal Andrea Stella, who openly praised Ferrari’s performance and even suggested that the red cars might be the ones to beat on Sunday. Still, overtaking Verstappen remains a monumental task, as emphasized by Lando Norris, who highlighted the impact of Red Bull’s low-downforce setup, designed specifically to maximize straight-line speed.
Lando Norris: “We won’t catch Verstappen even with DRS open”
Speaking in the official post-qualifying press conference, British driver Lando Norris was candid about the challenge ahead. “It’s hard to say whether we’ll be able to overtake Max Verstappen until we’re actually behind him—with dirty air, DRS, and all that. Honestly, our DRS speed probably only just matches his. I think it’s going to be difficult. Maybe we’ll be able to close the gap in the high-speed corners, but we’re not going to gain much when we open the DRS,” Norris explained.
He continued by pointing out the track’s characteristics and how they expose McLaren’s weaknesses. “Every car on the grid has different strengths and weaknesses. This is definitely a high-speed circuit, and it probably highlights more of our weak points. We’ve done well on slow and medium-speed tracks. Even on some of the fast ones, we’ve performed decently. But we always seem to lose something compared to Max Verstappen and Red Bull—just like Oscar [Piastri] said earlier—whether it’s here at Silverstone, or in Japan, or in similar conditions.”
The McLaren driver concluded on a note of cautious optimism: “There are clearly areas where we still need to improve. But we’re heading into tomorrow’s race knowing there are still a lot of opportunities ahead of us.”
Despite the strong pace shown by Ferrari and McLaren in recent rounds, Red Bull Racing and Max Verstappen remain formidable opponents—especially when armed with a car that excels in straight-line speed and is optimized for aerodynamic efficiency. The challenge for Sunday’s race will be not only overtaking Verstappen but even staying within striking distance of the RB21, which looks particularly tough with the aerodynamic advantage it holds in high-speed sections of the Silverstone circuit.
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