Verstappen 'Needs To Put Pressure On Red Bull' Says Chandhok

Monday, 18 November 2024 at 14:00

Former F1 driver Karun Chandhok explained why Max Verstappen needs to put pressure on his team right now.

Following the 2024 Sao Paulo Grand Prix, Max Verstappen increased his lead in the Drivers's Championship (to 62 points), and with only three race weekends to go, the Dutchman is super close to securing his fourth title.

While Verstappen will be satisfied with his performance throughout the season, as he maximized every opportunity, former F1 driver Karun Chandhok suggests he might not be so satisfied with where his team stands at the moment.

Although the 27-year-old is about to win the Drivers' Championship, his team is only third in the Constructors' Championship, behind McLaren and Ferrari. Karun Chandhok told GPblog that Verstappen needs to start applying pressure on his F1 team.

"I'm sure he (Verstappen) knows this. He knows he needs to put the pressure on Red Bull to deliver a better car because I think next year Ferrari will be much stronger."

"If you look at where they have been since probably the summer break, so since Zandvoort, they've been up up up up."

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"I think in normal dry conditions in Brazil, they would have been strong [there] as well. I think Ferrari will be strong."

Verstappen will indeed be facing incredibly fierce competition next year with Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc in Ferrari and Lando Norris with Oscar Piastri in McLaren.

"Oscar [Piastri] will have another year of experience. I think he and Lando will both be pushing McLaren even more. Mercedes, we don't know. Sometimes they look good, sometimes they look down."

As it stands, Red Bull is no longer the dominant team that it was at the start of the 2024 season, and if Verstappen wants to match Micheal Schumacher's record of five consecutive titles, he will need his team to find some improvements before 2025.