Max Verstappen warned “both championships are not realistic” now after Red Bull turned its once dominant Formula 1 car “into a monster”.
Verstappen struggled to qualify higher than seventh on Saturday and failed to make much progress on Sunday, moving up just one position to finish ahead of Mercedes man George Russell in sixth.
The Dutchman’s margin to victory was especially damning, conceding almost 38 seconds to Ferrari’s triumphant Charles Leclerc and over 30 seconds to title rival Lando Norris in third.
With Oscar Piastri finishing second ahead of team-mate Norris, McLaren has taken another bite out of Red Bull’s constructors’ lead, coming to within eight points.
But as far as Verstappen is concerned, his 62-point lead on Norris in the drivers’ standings won’t be enough either as Red Bull has yet to find answers to its crippling car balance problems that have plagued it since May and are now coming back to bite it against much improved competition.
“At the moment, both championships are not realistic,” Verstappen bluntly stated.
“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 undrivable car in the space of six to eight months. So, that is very weird for me and we need to really turn the car upside down.
“With how we are at the moment we are bad everywhere, so we need a lot of changes.”
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
When asked if polesitter Norris missing out on a win was a silver lining, he replied: “In a way, yes, but that’s not how I like to look at the championship. We have to go from our own fortunes and today and this whole weekend has been very bad.
“We were too slow. The [six second] pitstop, of course, cost me a bit. I couldn’t run full power for most of the race as well with the engine, because we had a little issue.
“Also strategy wise, we could have done a better job to be at least a little bit more in the fight. We were weak on a lot of fronts this weekend.”
Red Bull held crunch talks on Saturday to go over the changes it must make to its RB20 the coming weeks, with Verstappen feeling there is nothing left for him to say after warning the team over his car’s handling behaviour for several months now.
“It was quite clear for everyone what we have to do. It’s just now we have to turn it around,” he explained.
“It’s not easy to do that very quickly. And then if we can put that on the car, it becomes more drivable again.
“Last year we had a great car, which was the most dominant car ever, and we basically turned it into a monster, so we have to turn it around.
“It doesn’t matter how many weeks [it takes], we have to just keep pushing and work flat out. There’s no excuse.”
