Red Bull’s ‘big’ warning to rivals after ‘performance limitation’ claim

Max Verstappen rides the kerbs in Monaco

Max Verstappen has warned Red Bull’s rivals there are “big” gains to made with the RB20, just as soon as the team fixes their kerb-riding issues.

After last year’s dominance with Red Bull winning all but one grand prix on their way to the championship double, this season their rivals are nipping on their heels.

‘Big’ limitation to ‘big’ gains, Max Verstappen backs Red Bull

McLaren have once again nailed their in-season updates to win in Miami before Lando Norris pushed Verstappen to the line in Imola while Ferrari have racked up wins in Australia and again in Monaco.

Charles Leclerc secured the latter on a weekend where Red Bull struggled with the kerbs and the bumps at the Monte Carlo street circuit, Verstappen finishing off the podium in sixth place.

The Dutchman said at the time that Red Bull had been “found out” by a problem they’ve had since F1 2022, the first year of the ground-effect aerodynamic cars.

It is understood that one of the tricks behind the RB20 is that it requires a stiff suspension to create its downforce, and the latter is lost if the suspension settings are softened.

Red Bull are working on a solution, one that Verstappen believes once in place will allow the team to unlock “big” gains in performance.

“We’re struggling a lot with the kerbing and the bumps,” he said. “So we definitely have an area we can work on and definitely improve the car by quite a big margin if we get that under control.

“I really think that we can solve this without influencing any other part of the car.

“We know that this is a weakness and I also know that we are flat-out working on it to try and fix it, because I really feel like it’s quite a big performance limitation for us at the moment.”

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Team boss Christian Horner revealed Red Bull already made some gains in Montreal where the RB20 was still quick even when riding the kerbs.

“All of it has to work in tandem, so you are pushing the aerodynamic platform of the car, but you want the car to ride kerbs,” he said.

“What was encouraging was that our sector three this weekend was competitive, even with the stiffness of the car rattling over that last chicane.

“If you look throughout the running. we were very competitive there. So, despite it being uncomfortable, we were still able to be quick enough.

“I think there is genuine performance there so if we can unlock that, then we will see it free up lap time.”

Despite his struggles, Verstappen won the Canadian Grand Prix to extend his lead in the Drivers’ Championship to 56 points ahead of Charles Leclerc. It was his sixth win of this season.

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