Verstappen hopes worst of Red Bull’s season now behind them after taking ‘good step’ with recent updates

Max Verstappen has opened up on the challenges presented by Red Bull’s RB20 package so far this season, with the reigning world champion hopeful that the worst of the team’s problems are now behind them.

Verstappen started the 2024 campaign with seven wins from the opening 10 races, putting him well on course to claim a fourth world title and Red Bull in prime position to achieve another championship double.

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However, a combination of Red Bull taking a wrong turn with car development and rival teams – particularly McLaren – making progress means the situation looks quite different heading into the final two flyaway sequences.

Verstappen’s advantage over Lando Norris in the drivers’ championship stands at a reduced 52 points, while Red Bull lost the constructors’ lead to McLaren at the recent Azerbaijan Grand Prix and now sit 41 points adrift.

Speaking to Autosport about Red Bull’s up and down year, Verstappen commented: “In the beginning I was surprised as well, but if you look at what our problems were, then I fully understand it.

“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.”

He continued: “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.

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“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.”

Verstappen described bringing upgrades as “a lot more sensitive” under F1’s latest ground effect era, which has placed an emphasis on downforce generated by the floor, with teams battling to correlate the real and virtual worlds.

However, the Dutchman played down the impact of Red Bull’s ageing wind tunnel on their mid-season slump – the squad now going eight races without a victory in a run stretching back to June’s Spanish Grand Prix.

“It’s true that we have a fairly old wind tunnel, but until this year it did everything right,” he said. “Some things are just hard to understand. You see that with all the other teams as well, except McLaren.

“All teams have had their own problems, including teams with modern wind tunnels. I think it is just extremely difficult to fine-tune things perfectly or to get exactly the right data out of it. That can be down to a lot of things in the wind tunnel itself or how it correlates with the track.”

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For now, Verstappen is optimistic that Red Bull have turned a corner after they introduced an update to their floor at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and he finished second behind Norris at the following round in Singapore.

“Yes, it felt better,” Verstappen confirmed. “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.”

As for whether the worst of Red Bull’s season – including the low point of a particularly poor display at Monza – is behind them, he signed off: “Yes, I do think so to be honest. Hopefully we can continue to make good steps from here.”