Max Verstappen says the current form that Red Bull is showing makes it unrealistic to think it will win both championships, after finishing sixth in the Italian Grand Prix.
Lando Norris took another eight points out of Verstappen’s championship lead by finishing third at Monza and securing the fastest lap, while Verstappen was only sixth. Both Ferraris and McLarens finished ahead of the championship leader, who was 38s behind race-winner Charles Leclerc and 15s adrift of Lewis Hamilton in fifth, extending his run of races without a win to six.
“At the moment both championships are not realistic,” Verstappen said. “The car is undriveable; it’s a massive balance problem that we have, and that is not only over one lap but also the race.
“I’ve said a lot [to the team] and now it’s up to the team to come with lot of changes with the car because we basically went from a very dominant car to an undriveable car in the space of, what, six to eight months? That is very weird for me, and we need to really turn the car upside down.”
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Verstappen said pre-race that it would be a case of damage limitation for Red Bull in Italy, but he felt there was potential to execute a better race even if it was unlikely he would finish any higher.
“It was pretty boring, but we were too slow,” he said. “The [slow] pit stop of course cost me a bit, I couldn’t run full power for most of the race with the engine because we had a little issue, and I think also strategy wise we could have done a better job to be at least a little bit more competitive in the fight or whatever. It wouldn’t have changed the position but I think we didn’t do our optimal race.”
There was also a radio message from Verstappen where he asked, “Can the people in the background please be awake? I know this is a s**t position, but it’s important.” Explaining the context afterwards, he says the team didn’t appear to be on top of some of the information coming from the car.
“It had to do with my battery percentage because there are certain levels you’re at and modes you use,” he said. “I see it topping up and at [a point you can go into a faster mode]. So I asked and they’re like, ‘Oh yeah, you can.’ I’m like, ‘Come on, this is so obvious — things that you need to be on top of.’ I know I’m not racing anyone, but that shouldn’t matter. It’s still an F1 race where you have to maximize everything.”