Max Verstappen endured another weekend to forget in Monza as Red Bull’s plight worsened.
Max Verstappen will win another Grand Prix before the end of the season despite his doubts, according to Express Sport readers. The Red Bull driver is on a six-race winless streak and has raised concerns about the trajectory his team is on.
For the first five races of the year, Red Bull were nigh-on unstoppable and Verstappen put together four victories and five pole positions to kickstart a hunt for a fourth successive Drivers’ Championship crown.
However, since then McLaren have taken significant strides forward, while the Red Bull garage have struggled to understand the reason for their struggles. In Monza on Sunday, the reigning champions were only quick enough for P6 and P8, making them the fourth-fastest team on the grid.
Speaking after the race, Verstappen gave a glum assessment of his chances moving forward. “The way things are going, we are not going to win any more races,” he sighed. “But it is what it is.”
Even more concerning for the Dutchman is that his team don’t yet know how to correct their issues. In his post-race interviews in Monza, team principal Christian Horner repeatedly used the word “understand”, urging caution regarding any possible recovery for the squad.
“There is something that clearly isn’t working on the car and we’re trying to unravel and understand that,” he said. “But first of all, you’ve got to understand the problem, how to address it and then implement it. There will be an engineering solution to an engineering problem.”
Despite the doom and gloom from within the Red Bull camp, Verstappen has been handed some fresh hope in his battle against Lando Norris and McLaren. In a survey of 2,118 Express Sport readers, 83 per cent believe that the three-time world champion will win again in 2024.
More wins will be absolutely critical if Verstappen is to hold onto his Drivers’ Championship advantage during the final eight races of the season, although he is unlikely to get a chance to end his drought in the upcoming two events.
The F1 paddock heads to the streets of Baku next, and the bumpy nature of the track will no doubt cause problems for the RB20. Then it is Singapore’s turn to play host to the sport, and Verstappen will not want a reminder of the difficulties his squad faced around the Marina Bay Street Circuit in 2023.
