Verstappen's Father Slams Red Bull: 'They Should Start Focusing Bit More On Racing'

Monday, 27 May 2024 at 18:00

Jos Verstappen took a swipe at Red Bull after his son, Max Verstappen, finished sixth in the eighth round of the 2024 season in Monaco.

The 2024 Monaco Grand Prix was Max Verstappen's worst race weekend so far if we discount the DNF (due to a technical issue) during the Austrian Grand Prix.

Red Bull enjoyed a very dominant start to this season, and it seemed we might see 2023 kind of dominance all over again after the first few races.

However, as McLaren and Ferrari introduced new upgrades, both teams started catching up with Red Bull rapidly. Coming out of the Monaco Grand Prix, Verstappen still leads the Drivers' Championship, but now only by 31 points ahead of Charles Leclerc.

Moreover, Red Bull's gap to Ferrari in the Constructors' Championship also narrowed. Scuderia now stands 24 points behind the team from Milton Keynes, and it seems the battle for the title is on.

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Max Verstappen's father also told De Telegraaf after the race that Red Bull's dominant era looks to have come to an end.

"The era when Red Bull had the dominant car really seems to be over now. Maybe they should start focusing a bit more on racing and mutual communication again, rather than on other things..."

Verstappen Sr said the tensions inside the Austrian team weren't helping. Red Bull went through its most controversial times around the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, both of which the team won dominantly.

However, now that Red Bull has lost its edge over rival teams, Verstappen Sr couldn't help but bring up the internal tensions again. He continued:

"There will definitely be races where Red Bull will be in good shape again, but I am very curious to see how they are going to solve this. Something really needs to happen there."

The team from Milton Keynes also encountered a significant problem during the Monaco Grand Prix: their computer simulations didn't match the on-track data.

While simulations suggested the car should perform well over bumps and kerbs, it wasn't like that at all in reality, and that compromised the team's whole weekend.