Max Verstappen has called his Red Bull a “monster” after the team suffered a disastrous weekend at the Italian Grand Prix.
The Dutchman left Monza with just eight points after finishing sixth and with his drivers’ title lead cut to 62 points over Lando Norris.
After qualifying his RB20 in seventh, with Sergio Perez a close eighth, the entire team was in damage limitation mode.
However, although McLaren was only able to turn a one-two finish into a one-two finish, Red Bull’s lead in the constructors’ championship was reduced from 30 points to just eight. In conclusion, Ferrari is now only 39 points behind. After the race, Verstappen was asked about the impact the loss of Adrian Newey could have on the Milton Keynes team, a topic that Helmut Marko had spoken about earlier in the weekend.
I always said I wish Adrian had stayed. Always,” the three-time drivers’ champion told the media, including RacingNews365.
“But that is no longer the case because last year we had a great car that was the most dominant car of all time and we turned it into a monster. So we have to come back.” While McLaren made many successful upgrades to make the MCL38 the car to beat in F1, Red Bull couldn’t keep up. Already having a considerable advantage over its rivals in terms of performance, the RB20 was the fourth fastest car at Monza.
Not only others, especially McLaren, have progressed, but Red Bull has gone down the wrong path with its own evolution.
The more he added, the worse the balance became – something Verstappen wants to see rectified, with the 26-year-old urging the team to “work hard” to mitigate the problems.
“It doesn’t matter how many weeks,” Verstappen replied when asked if he knew how long the process might take.
“We just have to keep pushing and working hard. There is no excuse.