Secret Max Verstappen test uncovered as Red Bull react to major F1 rivals

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen.

Red Bull chief engineer Paul Monaghan confirmed Max Verstappen took part in a private TPC [Testing of a Previous Car] day at Imola this week, to give him a “reference” to work with this year.

A report from Dutch media circulated that Verstappen had been on track in an RB18, Red Bull’s highly-successful 2022 car, earlier this week, and Monaghan confirmed this was the case.

Max Verstappen takes part in private test as Red Bull look for current ‘reference’

Additional reporting by Sam Cooper

While Verstappen remains comfortably in the lead of the World Championship standings at the moment, Red Bull’s dominance this season has ebbed away and several rival teams have got themselves much closer to the reigning champions’ benchmark.

Verstappen took a hard-fought victory in Canada last time out, and has seen his margins of victory eaten into by the likes of McLaren, Ferrari and now Mercedes as Red Bull’s fellow teams find performance gains.

With Red Bull looking to stay ahead of the curve, the three-time World Champion took part in testing the team’s two-year-old car at Imola, with Red Bull taking his feedback on board to bring to their current challenger as needed.

When asked about that test in Barcelona and what that could offer Red Bull moving forward, Monaghan told media including PlanetF1.com: “We really tried to give Max a reference from a previous car, and when you’re trying to assess the strengths and weaknesses of a current car, his reference is the current car.

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“You might say ‘well, in previous years, we’ve had this we’ve had that’, have we really? Because we haven’t run them at the same time.

“So in taking that car out, we tried to give Max a reference to judge it from, and he’s been able to give us feedback from that, and it’s up to us what we do with it.”

With Verstappen having been vocal in offering his feedback on where he feels the RB20 can improve this season, with kerb riding seen as a particular issue, the runs in the RB18 are seen as an opportunity for him to drive a different recent car.

When asked if what he says about the car is different as a result, Monaghan replied: “His feedback won’t change as such, we just give him a different reference.

“The strengths and weaknesses of the cars are how we perceive it. We obviously judge relative to our opposition, but we blend that with his comments, check those comments, and we say okay, are we good? Are we bad? Look in the data, see if it’s valid to say we’re better or worse than other people.

“What’s his perception? Why is he saying it? And then what on earth do we do about it?”

Verstappen heads into the Spanish Grand Prix having won six of the nine races so far in the 2024 season, currently holding a 56-point lead over Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc.

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