Verstappen refutes claims linking Red Bull’s current struggles to Adrian Newey’s recent departure.
Max Verstappen does not believe that Adrian Newey’s earlier departure this season is the cause of Red Bull’s performance shortfall. The Dutchman points out that the RB20 was effective early in the season, and the engineer’s departure could not have stripped it of its pace.
“Since the announcement of his departure, things have been more challenging. However, it shouldn’t really matter if someone leaves immediately and performance drops because the car has always been the same,” Verstappen asserts.
Verstappen confirms he has had some contact with Newey, albeit infrequent: “Not much in recent weeks. He also moved offices at the factory. But whenever I see him, we have a good relationship. So that has never been an issue.”
He explains that wind was one of the reasons for a challenging weekend at home, but concerns remain limited: “We are trying many things to improve the car’s balance. I wouldn’t say Zandvoort was a wake-up call. It just wasn’t the best weekend for us, for various reasons.”
“We couldn’t get the car to operate as we wanted. Probably, the wind made things very difficult for our car with the balance issues we have, and yes, it simply wasn’t the best weekend.”
Despite testing two very different specifications, Red Bull encountered the same problems with Sergio Perez’s car: “It’s not as if Checo’s car suddenly became very fast. So, we need to find more performance and a better balance, as we are still complaining about the same balance issues.”
“Some things may not have correlated as we would have liked, but overall, I think we need to correct the general balance and behaviour of the car. It’s something that has set in, and now we need to try and rid ourselves of it.”
Regarding whether the problem is related to the settings or inherent characteristics of the car, Verstappen is clear: “It’s mainly the car, and that’s why you’re limited with the settings to try and avoid this.”
Given that the car was dominant at the start of the season, Verstappen mentioned that the fact that other teams have made significant progress prevents stripping back some of the enhancements made to the RB20 to try and go faster.
“I don’t think it will be faster. The other teams have really improved the car. So, if we pare back the car to improve the balance, it won’t necessarily be faster on a lap.”
Verstappen remains cautious about the possible reasons for Red Bull’s performance drop, and he assures he is still happy in the team, though he hopes for progress.
“I don’t know. It’s very hard to understand where things went wrong. I just need to talk to the engineers, because at the end of the day, they control the car and what’s been brought to it, and we need to find a solution together.”
“I’m enjoying myself. I’m pleased. Would I like to win more? Yes, of course. But I also knew that a season like last year wasn’t realistic. But did I expect it to be like this? Not really, considering how we ended and started.”
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Verstappen Denies Newey’s Exit Behind Red Bull Slump Verstappen Denies Newey’s Exit Behind Red Bull Slump
