Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen discussed when and how his F1 team took a step in the wrong direction, which resulted in a loss of performance.
Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez scored three one-two finishes in the first four Grand Prix race weekends of the season.
At that point, it looked like the team from Milton Keynes would have yet another easy season. But as we know, things suddenly took a wild turn, and Red Bull now isn't even leading the Constructors' Championship.
What exactly happened? Speaking to Motorsport.com after the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix (the last race before the Autumn break), Max Verstappen said:
"In the beginning I was surprised as well, but if you look at what our problems were, then I fully understand it."
"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."
Red Bull leaders agree that there has been a point where it went wrong, but it is clearly difficult to assess when exactly. While Helmut Marko suggested it was at the Miami Grand Prix, Christian Horner said it was the upgrades at the Spanish Grand Prix (four races later). Verstappen added:
"Early on I realised that the feeling was very different from last year's car in terms of balance. 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."
Red Bull introduced subtle changes to their floor during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix (two races ago). While that seemed to have helped, Verstappen still couldn't match the pace of his Championship rival Lando Norris.
In the following race in Singapore, he finished more than 20 seconds behind the McLaren driver. Red Bull will introduce a very important upgrade in Austin (upcoming race).
The Sprint weekend in the United States will be critical and should reveal the pecking order for the following last five race weekends of the 2024 season.
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