Formula One: Max Verstappen demands upgrades to ‘undrivable’ Red Bull

Red Bull duo Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez after the Formula One Italy Grand Prix. Photo / Getty Images

Once again Max Verstappen’s frustrations boiled over as he smashed the steering wheel of his “undrivable” Red Bull after a slow pit stop on a torrid afternoon at Monza. After finishing sixth, his Formula One championship lead was reduced to 62 points and his winless run stretched to six races.

Red Bull’s downward trend continued and Verstappen was again open in his frustrations about all aspects of his weekend and prospects for the rest of the year, as well as demanding upgrades after the once-dominant car was turned “into a monster”.

“If we don’t change anything on the car it is all going to be bad from now on to the end of the season. We have a lot of work to do,” the Dutchman said. When asked about his hopes for the drivers’ championship, he responded with a scathing verdict on the RB20.

“Well, the car is undrivable, it’s a massive balance problem that we have, and that is not only over one lap but also the race,” he said.

Verstappen also ruled out any hope of winning the constructors’ championship, with the gap to McLaren reduced to just eight points. “At the moment both championships are not realistic,” he said.

Even so, Verstappen believes that the execution of their Sunday in Monza was poor. “I think strategy-wise we didn’t optimise it. Some cars did a one-stop and we did a two-stop, which was not the best.

“For most of the race we couldn’t run full engine power because of a problem, so that doesn’t help. All in all, a bad race.”

If the race had also slipped away from Verstappen’s title rival Lando Norris – who closed the gap to 62 points but went from pole to third – Verstappen would have experienced a similar sinking feeling on Sunday.

Though he was not as vocal and critical of the team on the radio as he was in Hungary in July, he was forthright in his opinions during and after the race.

With four laps to go he radioed his team to tell people “in the background” to stay “awake” despite a “s--- situation”. Again he called on the team to fix the problems that have appeared in the last few months.

“Now it’s up to the team to come with a lot of changes with the car because we basically went from a very dominant car to an undrivable car in the space of, what, six to eight months.”

Red Bull’s slip down the field coincides with the confirmation of the departure of Adrian Newey, arguably F1′s greatest-ever designer and aerodynamicist and a crucial part of their success.

“I’ve always said I would have liked Adrian to stay, always, it’s not about that now,” Verstappen said. “Last year we had a great car, which was the most dominant car ever, and we basically turned it into a monster, so we have to turn it around,” he added.

“It doesn’t matter where we are [which track] at the moment, we are bad everywhere, so we need a lot of changes.”