Red Bull reveal the decisive factor that will determine Azerbaijan Grand Prix success

Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez recorded Red Bull’s worst two-car showing of F1 2024 at Monza

Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko revealed the question facing the team is about car balance in the RB20, and giving their drivers confidence moving forward.

Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez finished sixth and eighth respectively at Monza last time out, with Red Bull’s Constructors’ Championship lead cut to only eight points at the end of the weekend.

Helmut Marko: Red Bull need to ‘rediscover’ RB20 car balance

Verstappen dubbed the car “undriveable” at Monza as the team struggled to fight among their front-running rivals, with McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes all appearing quicker than Red Bull.

Both Verstappen and Perez spoke of the lack of balance they felt while behind the wheel, and Marko agrees this is the key area for the team to address if they are to re-establish their authority at the top of the World Championship standings.

“The question now centres on how we go about rediscovering the good car balance from the first part of the season,” Marko wrote in a column for Speedweek.

“Max Verstappen said in Monza that he doesn’t need 20 points more downforce if it makes the car undriveable, so we have to rebuild and hopefully find the point at which the car was in balance.

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“If we can do that, then the behaviour of the car will become predictable again, the drivers will gain fresh confidence and will be able to contribute in an ideal way again.

“Of course, this is a difficult task because we’ve put a lot of new parts on the car since then. Put simply, we have to find out where we went wrong technically.

“Mercedes had the best car in the race at [Spa]-Francorchamps, McLaren at Zandvoort and Leclerc triumphed in the Ferrari at Monza.

“Without these undulations, we would never have the lead we still have today. But of course we can’t constantly rely on one team being in front and then another. Our aim must be to be in front under our own steam.

“The lead in the Constructors’ Championship has shrunk to eight points. We don’t have to write off the manufacturers’ title just yet.

“Because if Max starts to win again, then Checo finishes between third and fifth place [it] will be enough to successfully defend this title.”

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