Red Bull’s updates have failed this year, claims Jos Verstappen
Three-time F1 champion Max Verstappen’s father, Jos Verstappen stated that most of the upgrades, which Red Bull have brought to its car so far this year, have failed to deliver the improvement.
Max Verstappen started the 2024 F1 season in dominant fashion, winning four of the first five rounds which allowed him to build up a seemingly unbeatable advantage in the drivers’ standings. However, with McLaren having achieved eye-catching improvements after introducing the Miami upgrade package, Red Bull’s pace advantage has disappeared.
In recent weeks, Mercedes and Ferrari have also introduced successful upgrades on their cars to join the battle at the sharp end of the field. As a result of the four-team fight, Verstappen’s lead has dropped from 84 points to 62 over Lando Norris.
Speaking during the Dutch-language De Coen en Sander show, Verstappen Sr pointed out that the updates Red Bull introduced this season haven’t delivered the expected improvements.
"First of all, I think all the updates that have been brought this year, that they have not brought what they thought they would bring."
"And because of that, you do stand still a bit – and the others are making big strides anyway. And standing still is going backwards, certainly in Formula 1."
Red Bull have been vocal about their balance issues that have hindered their performance in recent weeks. Although team boss Christian Horner and motorsport advisor Dr, Helmut Marko have recently promised that the Milton Keynes-based outfit will work on the issue, Verstappen Sr claims that his son had indicated at the start of the season that the balance of the RB20 needs to be improved, but the team did not take it seriously.
"At the beginning of the season where you then win races, then of course it all feels right, but [Max] also said then that the balance is not right."
"Max actually complained about it about three months ago. Only they didn’t really believe it, or they didn’t really see it. Now you’re actually a bit too late."
After the tough Italian Grand Prix, the reigning champion voiced his concern, claiming that Red Bull needs to get its act together if it wants to avoid that the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships slip away.
"We have to turn it around and it’s not easy to do that very quickly, and then if we can put that on the car, then it becomes more driveable."
"I’ve said a lot and now it’s up to the team to come with a lot of changes with the car, because we basically went from a very dominant car to an undriveable car in the space of six to eight months. So that is very weird for me and need to really turn the car upside down."
