It’s been a long time since Red Bull took such a hit from another team as it did during Max Verstappen’s home race. What now?
Lando Norris finished the Dutch Grand Prix 23 seconds clear of Max Verstappen. The Milton Keynes team’s lead in the constructors’ standings is shrinking, but given the difference in performance, the team must also look at the drivers’ standings.
relationship?
Helmut Marko is concerned about his team’s form and the final result.
“We have to think about something. Norris has the pace to catch Max at the moment. We have improvements in the preparations, but McLaren is very fast,” said the Red Bull advisor.
Marco suggests that the team may have a calibration issue between the simulator and the track.
“There are many ideas within the team, many different tracks. But we have to find something. We need to understand our car better, where it can be better balanced. A better balanced car means more confidence for the driver and less wear on the tyres. The modifications have to improve us. Not only theoretically, but also in lap times. From a time point of view, we are not achieving the same results as in the simulation,” Marko told autosport.com.
Horner is looking for
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner tried to remain optimistic.
“When we went ahead and Max broke the DRS, I thought it was okay. But then it became clear that from lap five or six Lando started to come back with incredible pace. We didn’t have the pace today,” the Red Bull boss told Viaplay.
“In hindsight, the risk we took by giving Max more downforce was probably not the best option. Given Checo’s pace, it seemed like he got easier in the second half of the race. Congratulations to Lando and McLaren though. They were very quick today. We have work to do to get better pace,” Horner adds.
Verstappen not satisfied
“The start was good. We did our best today to do our best, but we knew we didn’t have the fastest car. We fought for second place today and we managed. I was really running and controlling what I had,” said Max after the race.
The driver was not happy with the handling of his car.
“It was the same all weekend. From the first training session I had the same balance – until the race. The restrictions are the same and it’s difficult to solve this problem at the moment,” Max tells Racefans.net.
“It seems like we are very slow, but we have also fallen very hard at the moment. It is a bit strange because in the last few years we have been strong in this aspect. Something has gone wrong with the car recently and we need to understand that and try to fix it quickly,” Verstappen added.
The world champion admits he realised very quickly that despite the initial lead, he would have no chance against Lando Norris.
“I did my own race, I took care of the tyres. I tried to do what I could. But at a certain point I no longer had the answer. He got close to me and although I defended myself the first time, I couldn’t do anything the next lap,” said the Dutchman.
Perez was terrified.
Sergio Perez also expressed his admiration for the speed of the McLaren team.
“I think in terms of the progress made over the weekend, it was very strong. But I am very disappointed with the pace we had in the race. It is something we did not expect. We thought we would be closer to McLaren. Ferrari was also a big surprise. We have a lot of things to understand,” says Sergio.
The Mexican confirms he rode with a different setup to Max Verstappen.
“I think it was a positive weekend for the team because we ran with different specifications, Max and I, and we collected a lot of data from the weekend. Hopefully we can put everything together in one package soon. Monza will be a different track, but it was scary to see what McLaren could do today,” Perez added.
Juice warns
Max’s father Jos Verstappen, who was not happy with Red Bull’s management, was very decisive in his statement.
“I probably shouldn’t say that, but I will. The fact that you had to go back to the car earlier this year says enough. They don’t have that here and now. I think they should look in the mirror first,” Gus says.
Moreover, he believes that the situation was predictable.
“Max knew it was coming. It’s going to be a very tough end to the year. Max is doing everything he can, but he has nothing to drive. It was really amazing to qualify second,” adds the big Verstappen.
Based on: Racefans.net, autosport.com
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