F1 | Verstappen: “Both titles are unrealistic at the moment”

Max Verstappen’s weekend at Monza perhaps represents the perfect image of the current situation at Red Bull, because the sixth place finish is a disappointing result, the result of a weekend where the RB20 suffered from the now chronic balance problems. However, beyond the sixth place, there is much more to tell and the Dutchman knows it, because he is aware that, with a Red Bull that is struggling to keep up with McLaren, the next stages could prove even more complex.

At the end of the Italian Grand Prix, in fact, the three-time world champion was very clear, explaining how not only does the constructors’ championship now seem almost compromised, given that McLaren is only eight points from the top, but also the drivers’ championship seems increasingly difficult to reach.

In this race too, in fact, Verstappen suffered a deficit of more than thirty seconds from the MCL38, which increases to a good 37 seconds if compared to the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, winner at home. A difficult situation to digest, especially because the problems that are now afflicting the RB20 are those that Verstappen had complained about already in unsuspecting times. Now, however, the advantage over his opponents has completely dissolved and what could have seemed like a ride has transformed into a strenuous defense that not even the Dutchman knows if he will be able to complete.

Starting from the race, Verstappen is clearly not satisfied, both because he believes that his strategy was not particularly optimized, and because he had a problem with the Power Unit that slowed him down. In fact, after about thirty laps, even Max himself was warned by radio of the problem with his Power Unit and the fact that they had to cut power, also noticing for a few moments some difficulties in charging the battery.

“It was quite boring, we were too slow. The pitstop obviously cost me a bit,” said Max, who in the first pit stop saw a slow six-and-a-half-second stop due to difficulties with the right rear.

“The engine also wasn’t working at full throttle for most of the race, because we had a little problem. And I think also from a strategy point of view we could have done a better job to be at least a little bit more competitive in the fight or whatever. It wouldn’t have changed the position, but I think we didn’t have our optimal race.”

Verstappen said he was not disappointed by starting on the hard, but more by the way Red Bull approached the race, as if they were racing more defensively hoping to make a stop or that a well-timed Safety Car could save the situation, while then they veered towards the two pit stops without optimising them.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, in Parc Ferme after Qualifying

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

It clearly helps that Lando Norris only managed a third place, as the Briton recovered eight points from a haul that could have been substantially more. But the Dutchman is looking ahead and believes that the current 62-point advantage may not be enough to secure the championship, especially considering that Red Bull does not seem to find answers to the balance problems that are plaguing the car despite the many experiments that have seen Max return to a mix of old and new parts.

“At the moment, both championships are unrealistic,” Verstappen said bluntly.

“I’ve said a lot and now it’s up to the team to make a lot of changes to the car, because we basically went from a very dominant car to an undriveable car in the space of six to eight months. For me it’s a very strange thing and we really need to turn the car upside down. The way we are at the moment, we are in a bad position everywhere, so we need a lot of changes,” added the Dutchman who has been repeating the same things for several months now. To make matters worse, some of the problems had already been highlighted in times not suspect.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

Asked if poleman Norris’s failure to win was a positive, Verstappen naturally welcomed the fact that the Englishman missed out on the full haul, but that’s not what really worries him, preferring to look at the situation within his own team: “In a way, yes, but that’s not how I like to look at the championship. We have to start from our good points and today and the whole weekend were very bad.

Red Bull held a crucial meeting on Saturday to discuss the changes it will have to make to its RB20 in the coming weeks, with Verstappen deeming he has nothing more to say after warning the team about the behaviour of his car for several months now.

“It was clear to everyone what we had to do. It’s just that we have to turn things around now. It’s not easy to do that very quickly. The goal is to make it more driveable again. The car is undriveable. We have a huge balance problem and that, of course, not just on a lap, but also in the race.”