Max Verstappen is hopeful that Monza has been the low point of this Formula 1 season for Red Bull as the team is trying to find its form again with its 2024 car.
When Verstappen crossed the finish line at the opening race in Bahrain with a 22-second lead, consensus in the paddock was that 2024 would be a repeat of the two previous F1 seasons. Six months later, reality is very different with Red Bull having taken a wrong turn with the RB20’s development while its closest rivals, led by McLaren, have made immense progress.
Sitting down with Motorsport.com in Singapore, Verstappen delves into the challenges that Red Bull has faced after starting off the year so well. “In the beginning I was surprised as well, but if you look at what our problems were, then I fully understand it,” the Dutchman says. “At some point, we have gone in the wrong direction. The other teams have either not faced that particular point yet or they developed the car in a slightly different way. That is always difficult to assess.”
With Verstappen still dominant in Japan and China, the Miami and Imola race weekends in May appeared to be a turning point, but the reigning world champion reveals he sensed much earlier than the outside world that things weren’t quite right at Red Bull.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
“Early on I realised that the feeling was very different from last year’s car in terms of balance,” he explains. “At that time our car was still a lot quicker than the others, or maybe I should say that the others were not so good back then, so at that stage we could still compensate for our difficulties. In the races after that it got worse and worse. At one point our car was just very difficult to drive and at the same time the others made real progress.”
Verstappen has repeatedly stated he feels the front and the rear end of the car were not feeling connected any more and had been a visible departure from last year’s machine. At the car presentation in Milton Keynes last winter, Verstappen revealed he was shocked by the stark changes when he first saw the RB20’s sketches, which now raises the question whether or not the change of concept has been a mistake in hindsight: “I don’t think you can tell from the outside what went wrong, so that’s not the point,” Verstappen dismisses. “What the car looks like on the outside is not the issue.”
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