Max Verstappen has admitted that he is not anticipating Red Bull’s updates for this weekend’s Formula 1 United States Grand Prix to resolve all the RB20’s limitations.
Red Bull is poised to introduce a considerable upgrade package in Austin that it hopes will inspire an upturn in competitiveness amid a drastic regression this season.
The Austrian outfit began the campaign with seven wins in the first 10 races, but balance struggles with its 2024 car have seen it go winless in the eight rounds since.
As such, Red Bull has relinquished the lead in the Constructors’ Championship to McLaren, while Verstappen’s advantage over Lando Norris has been cut to 52 points.
But while Red Bull’s reaction to McLaren’s pace will be vital in determining the title outcome, Verstappen revealed that he hasn’t trialled the new parts on the simulator.
“I actually didn’t try it, so let’s see,” Verstappen told media including Motorsport Week.
“I mean, we don’t have a lot of time to really test everything.
“But we’ll see how it goes, to be honest. I mean, I don’t know at the moment what it will give.”
Verstappen has acknowledged that the Sprint weekend providing the teams with one practice session will complicate Red Bull’s strive to understand its latest update.
“Yeah, you rely more on data then. Because in one session, it’s very hard,” he explained.
“Because you just start with the car, right? That’s the package.
“You try to balance it, you try to find the best set-up on it, and then you rely, of course, on the data, also from the engineers, if they’re happy with the upgrade or not.”
However, the Dutchman has disclosed that Red Bull’s developments revolve around the breakthrough it unearthed during a tumultuous weekend at Monza last month.
“For sure, we learned a lot from Monza, and this definitely is from the learnings of Monza,” he added.
Red Bull upgrades won’t cure RB20’s limitations
Verstappen, though, has conceded that he is not expecting Red Bull’s revisions to be enough to usurp McLaren to regain its status as the benchmark team on the grid.
“Well, if you look at the pace in Singapore, the difference is for sure not,” he answered when asked whether it would be enough to catch the Woking-based squad.
“But every track is different. We know that Singapore is not our strongest track anyway.
“But I don’t expect that suddenly it’s going to be completely different and we are going to be the dominating car.
“We have our limitations a bit with this car already the whole year. Now we’re trying to make it better, but don’t expect it to completely swing.”
Pressed on whether the championship hinges on this upgrade working, Verstappen responded: “Yeah, it depends on a lot of stuff, not only on the update.”
