Was Max Verstappen Faster Than McLaren in Jeddah? exclusive physics
- By Dr. AK Rana
Max Verstappen Was Faster Than McLaren in Japan and Jeddah but Not in Bahrain or Other Circuits?
Why?
Because,
Bahrain has long straights and heavy braking zones, favoring lower downforce setups.
Downforce in F1 is the invisible force that keeps the car glued to the track. It’s created by the aerodynamic design of wings and bodywork, pushing the car downward as air flows over it. Higher downforce increases grip through corners but reduces top speed on straights due to drag, while lower downforce boosts straight-line speed but can lead to understeer and instability in turns. Finding the right downforce balance is a strategic puzzle every team must solve for each track.
Red Bull’s strength doesn’t shine here.
In Bahrain, both Red Bulls (Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda) were closer to midfield levels.
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Japan (Suzuka) and Saudi Arabia (Jeddah)
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Both tracks need medium to high downforce to attack the high-speed corners.
But Max Verstappen played a smart gamble:
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Max Verstappen went for slightly lower downforce than what the track ideally needed.
This gave him higher top speed on straights (very important to get pole position or attack).
In corners, where grip was lesser, he used his incredible driving skill — braking techniques, throttle modulation, sharp turn-ins — to manually overcome the understeer and lack of full downforce.
So while McLaren loaded a bit more downforce (making them extremely good through corners, e.g., Piastri buttering past Hamilton in Jeddah),
Max balanced low wing + high skill = got the pole and stayed ahead.
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It’s not like Max Verstappen was massively faster than McLaren in Jeddah and Japan, but his opponent McLaren was just a little bit slower because of their setup.
In qualifying (pole laps), the difference between Max and the McLarens wasn’t very big — just a few tenths — but yes, there was a real difference.
Max optimized the straight-line speed and trusted his skills in the corners, while McLaren optimized pure cornering grip at a small cost of top speed.
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What About Yuki Tsunoda?
Yuki needs more downforce to feel the car planted.
Red Bull builds a car philosophy closer to Max’s style.
So, in both of these two races, Red bull cars were widely separated on the grid but not in Bahrain.
The second Red Bull (Yuki Tsunoda) is not optimized for this style; hence the gap looks bigger.
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What about Miami? Max Verstappen
Miami is similar to Jeddah but needs slightly lower downforce than Japan.
So, McLaren will again aim for the perfect balance — enough grip in corners but good straight-line speed.
Max Verstappen will again gamble slightly toward lower downforce, trusting his hands, feet, and brain to manage the corners.
McLaren is possibly the fastest car at the moment, but Max Verstappen’s setup intelligence and supreme driving skills are allowing him to still snatch pole positions and race wins on medium-high downforce tracks by sacrificing a little grip but gaining straight-line speed.
So, between McLaren and Max Verstappen, who is getting pole position in Miami?
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also read How to Tackle Understeer for the Bahrain Grand Prix? F1 2025
