Red Bull Technical Director Pierre Wache claimed Max Verstappen masked “balance issues with his talent” during the team’s low point at the 2024 Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix.
Red Bull started 2024 where it had left off from its record campaign the year before, winning races with relative ease.
Verstappen led Red Bull one-two finishes in three out of the first four rounds and the Dutchman took victory in seven out of the first 10 events.
However, following victory at the Spanish Grand Prix, Red Bull developed balance issues with the RB20, prompting a 10-round winless streak for Verstappen.
Verstappen wrestled his RB20 to four podium finishes during this win drought and was outside of the top five twice, the first time coming in Monza, finishing sixth, whereby he described his car being like a “monster”.
His team-mate at the time, Sergio Perez, couldn’t crack the top five during this period and Wache explained how Verstappen’s driving talent was able to mask issues.
“That is especially true for a driver like we have with Max,” he said in a conversation with Motorsport.com
“He can filter out a lot of the balance issues with his talent.”
Still, Verstappen’s talent could only go so far and the Italian GP at Monza was a flashpoint for Red Bull.
“On a low-downforce circuit, it is much less possible to filter out the balance problems, but in some ways, that weekend in Monza was very positive for us,” Wache added.
“There the problems we had were highlighted enormously.”
Verstappen explains Monza turning point for Red Bull
Verstappen’s prowess on track is matched by his tenacity to push the team off of it.
Following the difficulties at Monza, the Dutchman forensically analysed data and was able to work with his Red Bull engineers to uncover the issues being faced by the RB20.
“I saw some graphs at one point when we were looking at the data,” the Dutchman said to De Telegraaf.
“I saw certain aerodynamic shifts in how we entered the corners, turned in and also in terms of ride heights.
“Different from the car from the year before. I said: ‘Hey, it’s very clear that this and this is the problem, isn’t it?’ And that was right, I heard. I had not seen those lines, those graphs, before.
“I said then that it was clear what we had to work on, because of course the engineers know exactly what had been changed compared to the car from last year.
Verstappen and Red Bull would go on to steadily improve post-Monza, achieving a Sprint victory at the United States GP, a stunning 17th-to-first drive at Interlagos and a surprise victory in the Qatar Grand Prix.
Among the improvements, Verstappen fended off the advances of McLaren’s Lando Norris to achieve a fourth consecutive Drivers’ title.
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