The start of the Formula 1 season has not gone as Red Bull would have liked. Max Verstappen expressed his concerns after the first practice sessions in Australia because his car is not performing as well as his rivals: McLaren and Ferrari seem to have taken the lead and this leaves the team with an energy drink licence in a very precarious situation.
Max Verstappen and his concerns about Red Bull
The four-time world champion showed his discontent as soon as he was able to face the first free practice in Melbourne. Verstappen finished in fifth and seventh position in the two Friday practice sessions, a below-expectation performance.
“The truth is that I had a hard time with all four tires, both in sector 1 and in the last one. That means that we are not up to par,” the Dutchman said at the end of the sessions. Max Verstappen confirmed this, focusing on the lack of balance problems, although he did, of course, mention the lack of grip that existed and that solving these problems is not exactly easy.
The Dutchman stressed that the lack of speed did not surprise him: “I am neither positively nor negatively surprised by the speed we are showing now. We just have to make sure we find more pace, because at the moment we are still a bit far from the front”.
Problems with the RB21: the challenge for Red Bull
The expectations of Red Bull for this season have fallen considerably. The pre-season in Bahrain already hinted at a lower performance, although the work in Australia confirmed that the Milton Keynes team is not at the same level as its main adversary.
One of the main problems Verstappen suffered in the second practice session was understeering in the first corner, which affected his performance. After several attempts, his best time of 1:17.063, from a series of warm-up laps, left him six-tenths of a second behind Charles Leclerc and his comparison with Ferrari’s car became evident.
In addition, there is another worrying factor: the uncertainty regarding the origin of the RB21 problem, which Verstappen explained as follows: “The problem is that we really don‘t have any major balance issues. That makes it difficult to solve,” somehow suggesting that solutions will be slow in coming.
Even so, the weather conditions could be a favorable element for Red Bull for Sunday’s race, although “we are a bit short of being able to fight at the top”, assuming that the team has to “work a little harder to get the car in peak condition” and to become competitive again.
Liam Lawson and his adaptation to the new Red Bull
For his part, New Zealander Liam Lawson also backed up Verstappen’s statements, assuming that the RB21 was not going as fast as he wanted. “I feel comfortable in the car, but too slow,” the New Zealander said after using the car in practice.
The young driver assumed that Red Bull has a lot of work ahead of it: “Obviously, we have a lot of work ahead of us tonight. In fact, there is a lot of work to focus on, but it’s a shame we didn’t find the result”. However, it seems that the solution is not in sight. “Not really. I think if we knew, we would also know how to solve it”, he concluded.
The start of the 2024 season is not optimistic at Red Bull. The team already has to find solutions quickly if it doesn’t want to have an identity crisis. For their part, Ferrari and McLaren have a good opportunity in this situation to establish themselves as the team to beat.