Max Verstappen has issued a stark warning to Red Bull Racing following a challenging performance at the Italian Grand Prix.
The reigning world champion finished sixth at Monza, highlighting significant issues with the team's RB20 car that could hinder their performance for the remainder of the season.
Verstappen faced difficulties throughout the race weekend, particularly during qualifying, where he struggled with understeer and ended up in seventh place.
Despite his efforts to improve during the race, he only managed to gain one position, indicating that the car's pace was lacking.
The team’s strategy also fell short, as they opted for a two-stop pit strategy that did not yield the expected results. Additionally, technical problems prevented Verstappen from utilizing full engine power, further complicating his race.
Speaking after the Italian Grand Prix, he said during the live broadcast:
"I thought we got the most out of the car in terms of position but not in the way we approached the race.
"The pace was not strong enough so we had to do our own race and had a bad pit stop.
"I think strategy-wise we didn't optimise it. Some cars did a one-stop and we did a two-stop which was not the best.
"For most of the race we couldn't run full engine power because of a problem so that doesn't help. All in all a bad race.
"It would still have been a bad race with full engine power but we may have been more competitive. We were in no man's land.
"If we don't change anything on the car it is all going to be bad from now on to the end of the season. We have a lot of work to do."
Verstappen told Sky Sports F1 after qualifying on Saturday:
"The car is very difficult to drive and find a good balance. If you have one issue and try to fix that, then there is another issue.
"It's not very driveable, let's put it like that. Q2 was not too bad Q3 felt very bad again - I had a lot of understeer on both tyres.
"I lost a lot of lap time, I couldn't really push the tyres, so struggling a lot with that for a reason I can't understand.
"The last few races have not been great so we need to turn it around and be competitive."
"The long runs were not very promising. When you are not balanced, everything becomes difficult in the race.
The current state of the RB20 has left Verstappen concerned. He noted that without adjustments to the car, the team may continue to face challenges as the season progresses.
The car's handling issues have made it difficult to drive, leading to a lack of balance that affects overall performance.
Verstappen emphasized the need for the team to address these problems quickly. With several races left in the season, Red Bull must find solutions to regain their competitive edge.
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