More concern for Max Verstappen as Helmut Marko issues worrying Zandvoort verdict

Max Verstappen speaking with Helmut Marko in the Red Bull garage

Conceding Red Bull have problems with the RB20, Helmut Marko has warned Max Verstappen that they may not be resolved when F1 returns for his home race in Zandvoort.

Although Red Bull picked up where they left off last season with four wins in the first five races of this championship, Verstappen has won just three of the last nine and currently sits on a four-race winless streak.

Max Verstappen has raised concerns about his RB20’s balance

That’s the triple World Champion’s longest winless run since 2020, the year before he won his first World title.

His frustration with the situation came to a head in Hungary when he declared Red Bull’s upgrades were “not good enough”, before adding: “I do think that some people need to wake up a little.”

He went on to explain that “balance-wise everything is really on the edge” and that Red Bull need “more, it’s as simple as that.

“I probably push harder than I did last year, it’s just not coming any more – to have these like great lap times. So then I guess it just means that we are a bit slower and we have work to do. Simple as that.”

However, with the Belgian Grand Prix and the summer break following hot on the heels of Hungary, Marko admits while Red Bull know they have an issue with the RB20, they most likely won’t have time to implement a fix before F1 returns with the Dutch GP.

Key information ahead of the next race: Zandvoort

F1 schedule: When is the next F1 race and where is it being held?

The updated Drivers’ and Constructors’ standings after the Belgian Grand Prix

“During the summer break, nothing happens for two weeks, which means that no work can be done on the car,” the Red Bull motorsport advisor wrote in his Speedweek column.

“We have to solve our problems and find out where the problem lies, because we no longer have the balance in the car if you compare the current situation with the first three races. But it is difficult to estimate how quickly that will happen.

“I don’t think that the big solution will come in Zandvoort. We are brainstorming intensively and have various ideas. But I can’t say yet what we will implement and how.

“One thing is clear: Qualifying in Zandvoort will be crucial, because overtaking is almost impossible there. And Max could well manage a good qualifying, because he has been good there recently. We were the fastest in Austria and also in Spa. In Hungary we were only a few hundredths of a second off – so we are complaining at a high level.”

Verstappen will line up on the Zandvoort grid chasing a fourth successive Dutch Grand Prix as the reigning World Champion looks to extend his 78-point advantage over Lando Norris in the Drivers’ standings in front of his Orange Army.

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