Max Verstappen has conceded that Red Bull will be in damage limitation mode at the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix amid Red Bull’s weakness in slow-speed corners.
Red Bull seemed to have made a breakthrough last weekend at Imola as Verstappen, having snatched the lead at the start, outpaced the McLarens in race conditions.
But while it was acknowledged Red Bull had made a step with upgrades, McLaren emphasised that the circuit’s dependence on high-speed cornering suited the RB21.
However, Verstappen isn’t expecting to be able to replicate those heroics in Monaco, where he salvaged sixth place 12 months ago on a weekend Red Bull floundered.
The Dutchman has highlighted that Red Bull’s successor to the RB20 is still susceptible to struggling at tracks where riding bumps and kerbs is imperative to lap time.
“Imola has given us some good ideas about what we need from the car, but here it’s a very different track,” Verstappen pinpointed.
“You can’t set the car up like you did in Imola because it would bounce all over the place.
“This track is still not optimal for us. I think we all know that.
“You can see this season that we can be competitive every time we go to tracks with high-speed corners, but the rest is more difficult.
“If you look at Imola, you could still see that the slowest corners weren’t our strongest on that track. We know that this track isn’t for our car and that is still the same.”
How Red Bull can mitigate inherent problem
Verstappen is hoping that Red Bull can optimise the set-up of his RB21 to at least mitigate the inherent problems that it remains laboured with on slow-speed circuits.
“To be honest, it hasn’t felt too different so far compared to last year,” he added regarding Red Bull’s current limitations with the RB21.
“But of course, we’re still trying to find some things with the set-up as well, to make the car at least a bit more driveable on tracks like this.
“At the moment, it’s hard to say. We need to wait and see how we start the weekend tomorrow, including the feeling in the car. But like I said, it won’t be easy, that’s for sure.”
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