Max Verstappen's RB21 window problem becomes Red Bull’s Las Vegas gamble

Red Bull’s hopes in Las Vegas hinge on one technical priority above all else: finding the RB21’s operating window. Without that, Max Verstappen simply cannot fight for victory — and the team knows it.

As Laurent Mekies put it bluntly, Red Bull’s recent dip comes down to a single truth: “We just need to get the car in the right window.” Until they do, the RB21's pace will remain unpredictable, leaving Verstappen’s weekends defined more by setup fortune than by the car’s true potential.

Red Bull’s struggles are not about track characteristics, and Mekies was emphatic on that point. “It’s not a case that the tracks are bad for us,” he said, dismissing claims that recent results reflect circuit-specific weaknesses. The real issue is consistency.

The RB21 is devastatingly fast once its narrow operating band is unlocked, but the moment it drifts outside that zone the car loses stability, grip and balance. And even the best setup work does not guarantee a smooth weekend. As Mekies admitted, “Even when you win races, it’s simply very difficult every race.”

That difficulty places enormous responsibility on Red Bull’s engineering group heading into Las Vegas. The street circuit’s ultra-long straights and heavy-braking zones demand low downforce, strong traction and exceptional tyre management in unusual, often inconsistent conditions.

Mekies underlined this, warning that Vegas will bring “extremely cold windows for the tyres,” a scenario that could either suit the RB21 perfectly or completely undermine it.

Verstappen remains capable of extracting more from a car than any driver on the grid, but even he cannot compensate for a machine that slips out of sync with the track. In recent weeks he has been forced to wrestle with a car that looks brilliant one Saturday and uncooperative the next — a fluctuation driven entirely by whether the engineers have managed to “wake up” the RB21.

For now, Red Bull’s focus is on performance alone. Championship considerations, Mekies said, can wait. “The rest is a consequence.”

Adding to the pressure is McLaren’s surge. Their car rewards an aggressive, rotation-heavy style — one Lando Norris has mastered. Verstappen’s preference for a planted rear end and strong entry stability makes him formidable when the RB21 behaves, but that balance disappears quickly when the car falls outside its narrow window.

Las Vegas should, on paper, swing back towards Verstappen. But that depends entirely on Red Bull nailing the setup from the first laps.

And that is the essence of Mekies’ message. No excuses. No blaming layouts. No disguising the problem. It all comes down to execution.

“We just need to get the car in the right window,” he repeated.

Friday’s practice will offer the first indication of whether Red Bull have managed to get close — or whether they are still searching for the window that keeps shifting just out of reach.