Verstappen urges Red Bull to fix problems amid ongoing balance issues

F1 Grand Prix, GP Italy, Autodromo Nazionale di Monza

Reigning world champion Max Verstappen insists Red Bull needs to fix the ongoing technical issues that have been holding its performance back in recent rounds.

Following a tough qualifying for Red Bull in the Monza qualifying session, the Italian Grand Prix was always going to turn out as a race of damage limitation in terms of the drivers’ championship. However, the reigning champion team lost out hugely in the constructors’ standings after McLaren managed to collect an impressive haul of points.

While the last two seasons saw Max Verstappen claim an easy victory at Monza, the Dutchman and his team-mate Sergio Perez never looked comfortable behind the wheel of their RB20 at last weekend's Italian Grand Prix.

The Dutch driver and the Mexican racer both extended their first stint of the 53-lap race, but they could not capitalise on their fresher rubber and the offset strategy, ending the last European round of the season sixth and eighth respectively.

Reflecting on the tough Italian round, Max Verstappen noted: “Overall it was a tricky weekend in Monza both in qualifying and the race. In terms of position, we got the most out of today, there was a bad pit stop and we were also running down on power for most of the race but we just tried to do our own race.

Speaking of Red Bull's offset, two-stop strategy, the championship leader noted: "We could’ve executed a better strategy but in hindsight the two-stop was not optimal so it ended up being damage limitation until the end.

"There is a lot to analyse from this weekend. This is just how racing goes sometimes, we need to put our heads down and work as hard as we can to get back to where we want to be.

"I’ve given a lot of feedback on the car, so in the next two weeks before Baku we need to focus on turning things around and fixing some of the issues we’ve identified over the past few weekends."