‘What the hell?’ – Red Bull strategists criticised after a Mercedes’ ‘déjà vu’ moment

Although Max Verstappen didn’t make a “real Max Verstappen start”, it was his strategy at the Belgian Grand Prix that ultimately cost him the victory says Christijan Albers.

Verstappen lined up P11 on the grid at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit having taken a 10-place grid penalty for an engine change that cost him pole position.

Albers asked ‘what the hell’ were Red Bull’s strategists doing?

But while in 2022 when he faced a similar penalty, one that relegated him from pole position to P14 on the grid, he won the race, last Sunday the Dutchman didn’t even finish on the podium as he was P4 at the chequered flag.

Although Verstappen was quickly into the top 10 on Sunday, running P8 on lap 2, DRS trains and strategy made it more difficult than it was in 2022 for the reigning World Champion to storm through the pack.

“He was so supreme in 2022 when the rest had yet to connect,” Albers said in De Telegraaf podcast. “You can see now that everything has come closer together. Everyone has a lot of turbulence and dirty air now.

“Sorry, but it was not a real Max Verstappen start. His start was not good. After the first corner, he was still in the same position. He was either careful or he had a bad start.

“They will also analyse whether they started too cautiously. You are then going to create temperature because you are all driving in a train and in dirty air. Then at a certain point you can’t make a move to pass them either.

“They also only had one set of hard tyres, so you have to think about how you classify that race. If you look at Verstappen’s race, you can see that management played a bigger role than conquering positions. As a result, he drove himself a bit stuck and that’s a shame.”

But that Verstappen then not once but twice found himself behind his team-mate Sergio Perez was unfathomable to Albers.

“They did learn from it the second time, because then Perez pulled over faster,” he accepted. “The first time it took far too long. In the second sector, you don’t want Perez driving in front of Verstappen. Then you lose downforce and it’s also the sector with the most corners.

“Then I was eating myself on the bench. I thought: what the hell are they doing here? Max has only seen gearboxes.”

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Are Red Bull’s strategists falling into the Mercedes trap of yesteryear?

Meanwhile, Viaplay’s Allard Kalff even went as far as to claim Red Bull’s strategy cost Verstappen a podium if not the win.

“He could have won the race,” said the pundit. “He could have at least driven to the podium.”

The 61-year-old is worried two races in succession with questionable strategies could be a sign that Red Bull, under threat for the first time since 2021, are falling into the old Mercedes trap.

“What is one of the reasons that Russell won? He doesn’t come in, he kept the position on the track. And overtaking was almost impossible,” he said. “If you see how Hamilton and also Piastri drove up to those ahead and then got stuck within a second.

“They are bringing Max in at the wrong times again. He ends up behind other drivers and had to overtake them again.

“They [Red Bull’s strategists] were always praised for their strategy, they were the best you could get.

“But I still have a little déjà vu to the times when Mercedes were so dominant and everyone was saying that they had their strategy so well figured out. Until they came under pressure and then it all went wrong.

“Now we have seen for two races in a row that Red Bull’s strategy is not good.”

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