Max Verstappen makes worrying Red Bull claim with ‘alarm phase one’ triggered
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Losing their advantage on the track, Max Verstappen says Red Bull have been listening to his complaints about the RB20 but they just “don’t really know what to do” to fix it.
Having won four of the opening five races of this season, the most recent five haven’t yielded a single victory for Verstappen who only managed two podiums in that period.
Max Verstappen acknowledges ‘alarm phase 1’
But while he still holds a 70-point advantage in the Drivers’ Championship, that could take a hit on Sunday when title rival Lando Norris lines up on pole position at the Italian Grand Prix with Verstappen only seventh on the grid.
Verstappen was woefully off the pace by his lofty standards and finished qualifying seven-tenths shy of pole position after fighting his “not driveable” RB20 around the Monza circuit.
He’s not expecting it to get any better in Sunday’s 53-lap Grand Prix.
“If you already have balance problems over one lap, they are not suddenly solved in the race,” he told the Dutch edition of Motorsport.com.
“It can go downhill fast, if it continues like this. But that is what I have always said.”
It begs the question: have Red Bull been listening to the triple World Champion?
Worryingly Verstappen says they have, they just “don’t really know what to do” to resolve the car’s issues.
“They certainly listen to me, but it is very difficult to find a solution,” he explained. “I think they are listening, but they don’t really know what to do yet. That is the problem.”
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Red Bull, though, are working hard to find a solution.
“We are checking things, but that just takes longer,” Verstappen added. “It is not like I thought one day after the summer break ‘now everything is suddenly going well’. We need more time to test and evaluate certain things.
“Unfortunately, that takes a bit longer than we would like. Hopefully we can come up with something at some point that improves the balance.”
At the same time, the competition is not sitting still and so Verstappen acknowledges during his press conference in Monza that it is ‘alarm phase 1’ for Red Bull.
Put to him that it was “alarm phase 1” as it was dubbed by one X user in the build-up to Monza, Verstappen replied: “That is clear, yes, especially with today of course.
“But I just have to try to stay positive, because shouting around doesn’t work either. Everyone is doing their best, but it is very difficult at the moment.”
Verstappen will line up on the Monza grid 70 points clear of Norris in the title race while Red Bull have a 30-point lead over McLaren in the Constructors’ standings.
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