How Verstappen and Red Bull are responding to being second best

For the first time since his home race joined the Formula 1 calendar in 2021, Max Verstappen wasn’t the man to beat in Zandvoort.

Verstappen was soundly defeated by McLaren’s Lando Norris in qualifying at the Dutch Grand Prix – to the tune of three tenths – and while another stuttering start cost Norris the lead on race day, he soon swept past and sailed off into the distance, defeating Verstappen by 22.9 seconds.

McLaren being on top is nothing new, as it mainly stopped itself from picking up more than its two wins before the summer break in Miami and Budapest, rather than its rivals getting in the way.

But the margin of Norris’ emphatic victory, in the Dutch lion’s den nonetheless, is poignant as an otherwise comfortable gap of 70 points in the drivers’ standings suddenly doesn’t sound so cushiony anymore.

What was once seen as a blip, an unfortunately timed run of bumpier circuits like Miami and Monaco that punished an inherent Red Bull weakness, has since carried over on circuits where Red Bull used to be dominant too.

But while few expected Norris to mount a credible title bid earlier in the season, this is the exact scenario Verstappen had been vocally warning about for months as Red Bull struggled to eke much more performance out of the RB20’s car concept.

From Miami onwards, Verstappen – never one to mince his words – had been urging the team both in public and in private to get its act together.

Speaking in Austria two months ago, Verstappen said: “In general everybody has come closer, I think we just have to be honest about that. We could say: ‘Yes, it’s normal’. I don’t think it’s normal. We always want to be better, and that’s why I bring that up.

“I could also say: ‘Yes, we won [in Spain], so it’s fine.’ But I don’t look at it that way. We do have to keep working hard. If we think this is normal, people are going to overtake us.”

That has now happened, with McLaren adding to its game-changing Miami upgrades with another package in the Netherlands that has also appeared to hit the mark and improved its aerodynamic efficiency.

Meanwhile, Red Bull has had to roll back some of its Hungary updates, with technical director Pierre Wache conceding to Motorsport.com that it may have hit the ceiling of where it can take this year’s car.

Is anger making way for acceptance?

In Budapest, Verstappen…