Max Verstappen still faces the ‘Achilles heel’ of Red Bull’s car despite their five Belgian Grand Prix upgrades

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Red Bull made full use of the break before the 2025 F1 Belgian Grand Prix to debut five upgrades that helped Max Verstappen to win the Sprint at Spa, yet one issue persists.

The Milton Keynes crew took advantage of the 2025 F1 season hitting pause for three weeks following the British Grand Prix to try to bring in changes that can return Red Bull to winning ways. But Verstappen matched his worst run of results since 2019 with P4 in the Belgian GP.

While Verstappen won the Sprint at the Belgian GP after overtaking Oscar Piastri of McLaren on the opening lap, the 27-year-old has now failed to register a Grand Prix podium finish for three consecutive rounds. It marks the Dutchman’s worst run of finishes for 133 Grands Prix.

Verstappen took the chequered flag 1.546 seconds behind Charles Leclerc of Ferrari for the final position on the Belgian GP podium on Sunday. He was also 21.731s behind race-winner Piastri, as team chief Laurent Mekies led his first race after Red Bull sacked Christian Horner.

Red Bull’s Belgian Grand Prix upgrades did not fix their ‘Achilles heel’ of a lack of balance

Red Bull sacked Horner without telling him why the 51-year-old was being removed from his roles, with Mekies also replacing him as their F1 CEO and team principal, only two days after Verstappen earned P5 in the British GP. The Dutchman has not won a Grand Prix in six races.

READ MORE: All you need to know about Red Bull team principal and CEO Laurent Mekies

Horner’s exit meant he effectively left Red Bull with a parting gift of five upgrades they took to last weekend’s Belgian GP. Red Bull introduced a new front wing design, revised sidepod inlets, a revised engine cover, a new front suspension set-up and new brake duct bodywork.

But while Mekies was pleased with the overall impact of their upgrades, Red Bull’s new boss admits the updates did not fix “all” of the “balance limitations” Verstappen gets in the RB21. F1i even adds that Red Bull now have a challenge to fix the RB21’s ‘Achilles heel’ this season.

“Certainly the team are happy with the package in terms of does it bring performance to the car? Yes,” Mekies noted. “Does it bring enough? No. Does it fix all the balance limitations we have? No. It’s as simple as that. So, that’s where we are. We still have some work to do.”

Max Verstappen lamented the balance of his RB21 after qualifying for the Belgian GP

Red Bull’s five-part upgrade package at the Belgian GP is likely to be the final major update package the team from Milton Keynes introduce during the 2025 F1 season. But motorsport adviser Helmut Marko has confirmed Red Bull will unveil upgrades at the Hungarian GP, too.

READ MORE: Red Bull driver Max Verstappen’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend

It remains to be seen how extensive their updates at the Hungaroring this weekend prove to be after taking a huge package to Spa. Red Bull’s new sidepod inlets, in particular, have been designed for tracks that demand more engine cooling and caused the new engine cover, too.

But Red Bull’s upgrades did not dial out the balance problems that have plagued Verstappen throughout 2025. The four-time defending champion has frequently lamented the through-corner balance of the RB21, and he also took issue with it at the Belgian GP after qualifying.

“We opted a little bit [to use a higher downforce set-up] looking for tomorrow,” Verstappen said, via the F1 website. “But, somehow, the balance didn’t really improve with that change, and that’s a bit weird. Especially in Q3, the first set felt awful.

“The second set, we tried something else, and it just didn’t give me any grip starting the lap. I had a lot of wheelspin starting the lap out of the last corner, and the same thing happened out of Turn 1. I just lost two tenths on my own lap time already, which is not ideal.”