Max Verstappen addresses Red Bull RB20 concept theory in new McLaren warning

Max Verstappen honestly believes the worst is behind Red Bull, the Dutchman encouraged by the team’s Baku upgrade as he looks to hold off Lando Norris in the championship fight.

Just a month after declaring the championship titles were “unrealistic” having recorded the team’s worst two-car score of the season at Monza, Verstappen is seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

Max Verstappen denies ‘outside’ RB20 changes created balance issues

After finishing a lowly sixth in the Italian GP where his team-mate Sergio Perez was eighth, Verstappen said Red Bull’s development directions had turned the RB20 into a “monster” as updates had created a “disconnection in balance”.

The reigning World Champion feared his chances of retaining the title for a fourth season were “not realistic” as Norris, for the third time in four races, nibbled into his advantage in the standings.

But while the McLaren driver did so again in Baku, where he came from the back of the grid and overtook Verstappen on the track to finish P4 to the Red Bull’s fifth, and also in Singapore, Verstappen is feeling more confident in his chances.

The reason for that is Red Bull’s latest floor which the team introduced in Baku.

“Yes, it felt better,” he told Motosport.com . “That was already a good step for us.

“I do think we are moving in the right direction now, it will take some time. You can’t turn something like this around in one or two weeks. But I do think the team was happy with what they saw in Baku as well.”

It has Verstappen convinced that the worst is behind Red Bull. “Yes,” he insisted. “I do think so to be honest. Hopefully we can continue to make good steps from here.”

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F1 2024 has been a tale of two halves for Verstappen as while he won seven of the opening 10 races, he now sits on an eight-race winless streak.

But even when he was winning races early in the season, he says he was aware that something was different with the RB20 compared to last year’s RB19 in terms of balance.

“In the beginning I was surprised as well, but if you look at what our problems were, then I fully understand it,” he explained. “At some point, we have gone in the wrong direction.

“The other teams have either not faced that particular point yet or they developed the car in a slightly different way. That is always difficult to assess.

“Early on I realised that the feeling was very different from last year’s car in terms of balance. At that time our car was still a lot quicker than the others, or maybe I should say that the others were not so good back then, so at that stage we could still compensate for our difficulties.

“In the races after that, it got worse and worse. At one point our car was just very difficult to drive and at the same time the others made real progress.”

He, though, refuted suggestions Red Bull’s radical changes to the car’s design over the winter led to today’s problems.

“I don’t think you can tell from the outside what went wrong, so that’s not the point,” Verstappen said. “What the car looks like on the outside is not the issue.”

Formula 1 returns to action after the autumn break with the United States Grand Prix, Verstappen 52 points up on Norris while McLaren lead the Constructors’ Championship by 41 points over Red Bull.

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