Max Verstappen revealed the crucial areas Red Bull needs to improve to “fix” their “problems” and turn around their Formula 1 season.
Red Bull has had a tricky season so far, and heads into the summer break fourth in the Constructors’ Championship. Over the first half of the season, the team has been navigating the rollercoaster that is the RB22.
After several frank comments from Verstappen during the first 11 race weekends, the Dutchman has revealed which areas are priorities for the team to move forward.
The four-time World Champion explained that during the course of a race weekend, the team have seen the RB22 become less competitive. Improving the consistency of the performance is currently a “big priority” for the team. Looking at the Hungarian GP weekend, this issue in particular comes to light.
Verstappen spent the Free Practice sessions attempting to find balance, but he still looked solid throughout as he navigated the issues. Then came qualifying, where the Dutchman spun as the last seconds of Q3 ticked down.
Somehow, he managed to fight his way through the pack from P6 and finished the Grand Prix on the second step of the podium. While the performance was impressive, the four-time World Champion was still not satisfied with the RB22’s behaviour.
“We need to first find more overall performance,” Verstappen explained to the media.
“Then we need to fix our problems, where we sometimes just lose performance over a weekend, or even from the start of the race to the end. So, yeah, that is also actually a big priority.”
Power unit struggles
Furthermore, Verstappen admitted that the RB22 tends to struggle for pace. Earlier this season, the FIA stated that the Red Bull engine was the benchmark for 2026, but the team disagrees.
The new era saw Red Bull debut their own power unit, developed in partnership with Ford. However, the engine has not appeared to be as reliable as the team hoped. As the FIA deemed it to be the benchmark engine, the Milton Keynes-based team was not awarded Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities (ADUO).
“Then you mentioned the engine,” the Dutchman added after being asked about his perspective on the situation.
“Well, I would love to have some ADUO as well. Yeah, somehow. But that’s, I don’t know. We’ll see. We’ll have another look after the break.”
READ MORE: Red Bull admits to ‘dissatisfaction’ with F1 Hungarian GP performance
Discussion about this post