Last Updated on May 29 2024, 3:56 pm

Red alert for Formula 1 series champions Red Bull Racing. Despite things are still looking good for the successful outfit in the championship standings, yet the team has struggled unusually badly on track in recent races. Helmut Marko suggested two possible reasons.

Something’s wrong with Red Bull as Max Verstappen stood alone at the start of the season when he went from victory to victory, but in the last three races, he has had to fight for every metre of the leading to many asking what’s going on?

Helmut Marko offered two possible explanations for the team’s slump at a press conference in Graz, Austria, on Tuesday. It appears that there can only be one problem for Red Bull, and it is not a good one.

 

 

 

Struggles in Monaco

Red Bull’s dominance of Formula One has been unquestioned in recent years. With back-to-back Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships in 2022 and 2023, the team seemed invincible. However, recent events suggest that their grip on the sport may be loosening. Last weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix, a race traditionally known for its unpredictability and the importance of qualifying, revealed potential cracks in Red Bull’s once impregnable armour.

Throughout the Monaco Grand Prix weekend, Max Verstappen struggled for pace and had to contend with a particularly inconsistent RB20. His qualifying performance left him in a disappointing sixth place, a position he maintained throughout the race, marking his worst result since the 2022 Sao Paulo Grand Prix. The situation was even worse for his team-mate Sergio Perez, who qualified 18th and crashed on the opening lap after a collision with Haas driver Kevin Magnussen.

These setbacks have had a significant impact on Verstappen’s lead in the championship, which has now been reduced to a precarious 31 points.

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Jos Verstappen’s criticism of Red Bull

In an interview with Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, Jos Verstappen did not hold back in his criticism of Red Bull’s recent performance.

“The time when Red Bull had the dominant car really seems to be over now,” he remarked. “Maybe they should concentrate a little bit more on racing and communicating with each other instead of other things.”

Red Bull’s problems in Monaco appeared to be primarily related to the RB20’s suspension, which struggled to cope with the kerbs of the street circuit. This lack of compliance severely hampered the car’s performance. Max Verstappen warned that while the problem was particularly pronounced at Monaco, it could potentially recur at other circuits throughout the season.

Max Verstappen alluded to the same suspension problems during practice at the Monaco weekend.

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Max Verstappen says Red Bull car has been ‘found out’

Verstappen made it clear that Red Bull are not dealing with a new problem when describing the suspension issues. Rather, it’s an issue that dates back to the introduction of the ground effect cars, which was initially masked by the team’s significant car advantage.

“It’s like I’m driving without suspension,” explained Verstappen.

“The car is bouncing around a lot, not absorbing kerbs, bumps or camber changes. In the last corner, the number of times I almost hit the wall is unbelievable. We’ve had this problem since 2022. For the last two years, our car advantage has masked it. But now that everyone is catching up, our weaknesses are being exposed…”.

He added that the car’s behaviour in Monaco was reminiscent of its performance in the previous two years, although the team’s overall advantage had previously allowed them to secure victories – first with teammate Sergio Perez and then with Verstappen in 2023.

Verstappen described the situation as a “fundamental problem” that “cannot be fixed in a few weeks”. Asked if it could be resolved this season, he was unsure.

“First of all, we have to understand what it is and we don’t know,” Verstappen admitted.

“We’ll work hard to identify the problem and try to fix it, but I don’t know if we can do it this year or if we have to wait for next year. If we knew, we would have fixed it by now. Obviously we don’t”.

 

 

Brundle: Monaco ‘no outlier, Red Bull is in decline’

 

 

Different problems at different races

Monaco marks the third consecutive difficult weekend for Red Bull, but Verstappen noted that each weekend has been marred by different problems.

“Probably in Miami we didn’t get the balance right and maybe the tyres,” he explained. “At Imola we managed to turn things around, but we weren’t on top of the tyres, especially the hard ones. Overall our performance was OK, but I knew Monaco was going to be one of our toughest weekends with everyone catching up.”

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Urgent need for solutions

Jos Verstappen stressed the urgency with which Red Bull must address these issues if they are to avoid further defeats to the likes of Ferrari and McLaren. “There will definitely be races where Red Bull will be in good shape again, but I am very curious to see how they are going to solve this. Something really needs to happen,” he said.

“Red Bull need to find out where this problem is coming from, because it is clear that teams like Ferrari and McLaren are getting closer. Max has been able to hide it a bit, but the big difference with Sergio Perez is becoming more and more obvious.”

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Marko reveals biggest issue

One problem, according to Marko, is that the competition has simply done a good job in recent weeks and months.

“The regulations are in their third year and people are copying. Some copy better and some make the copy even better and that is what has happened with McLaren,” he said, praising the British team, for whom Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have recently produced some impressive results.

Ferrari have also been “constantly developing”, the Austrian said of his other main rival.

At the same time, Marko also mentioned a problem within Red Bull: the simulator…

“Both drivers came to Monte Carlo excited and said the car handled the kerbs really well, but as soon as they were in the car they said ‘undriveable’,” said Marko, describing how the RB20 was much better in theory than it was on the track.

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Marko calls for changes to F1 classic; Monaco

However, it remains to be seen how significant the disappointing result in Monaco was, as the circuit in the Principality is probably the most special of the whole year.

On the one hand it has its charm, but on the other it is often boring for the spectators. So Marko suggested some changes to the classic.

In Monaco, he complained, they just “sneak around”. This would “not work in the long run”, predicted the man from Graz, who immediately came up with some suggestions for improvement.

“You have to come up with something, either in terms of the track or the pit stop strategy. For example, you have to make two stops to use all three sets of tyres,” suggested Marko.

READ MORE – Brundle: Monaco ‘no outlier, Red Bull is in decline’

 

 

 

 

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