Max Verstappen: “Red Bull is not yet fast enough to compete with McLaren”
Second at the Singapore Grand Prix, the Dutch driver expressed satisfaction with the result achieved on a track that doesn't really suit the Red Bull. However, he acknowledges the significant performance gap with McLaren and urges his team to react quickly.
Red Bull has found its color again. Struggling for several races, having obtained only one podium in the last five rounds, the team led by Christian Horner was expecting another difficult weekend, especially since the Singapore circuit has always been a challenge for Max Verstappen, proof of the car’s difficulties on this track. However, this weekend, the car seemed to come alive again, especially in the hands of Verstappen.
For Verstappen, McLaren is superior on all types of circuits.
Second in qualifying behind his rival Lando Norris, the triple world champion finished in the same position on Sunday. While he is satisfied with the result and the progress of the car, the Dutchman remains aware of the work still to be done for Red Bull. He particularly explained that even though the RB20 is less performant on urban circuits, the Woking team remains superior on more traditional tracks.
« We still need to better understand our basic pace, our pace over long stints,” he told F1’s official channel. « We know that, of course, this circuit is not ideal for us, but I think that even on a normal track at this stage, we still can’t compete with them, so we need to bring more performance. » Second in the race, but over 20 seconds behind the winner of the day, the Red Bull driver explained that he quickly realized that victory was out of reach and that McLaren was far superior this weekend. « Very quickly, I realized that it wasn’t possible to keep up and I just tried to run my own race and keep my momentum, even if, of course, it wasn’t at the same pace as Lando.
Red Bull intends to fight until the end for the world titles.
« The first relay was a bit difficult. I had a lot of degradation at the back, a lot of sliding. It made me lose a lot of time per lap. Then, the second set of tires was a little more competitive. It is of course still not where we want to be, but I think overall, it was a bit more promising.
» For Christian Horner, even if some issues are not yet resolved, especially the balance, which was still a concern for Verstappen at some point during the Grand Prix, the team’s director praised the work done by all staff for several weeks, stating that the car has evolved greatly and is approaching the next races of the season with renewed confidence.
« If you consider where we were a few weeks ago, progress is visible, and we have almost a month to focus and progress before heading to Austin,” he said. « There will be many sleepless nights in Milton Keynes. » Now relegated to 41 points behind McLaren in the constructors’ championship, Red Bull will need to bring evolutions urgently. Like all the other teams, it has three weeks to prepare for the next Grand Prix in Austin, with the hope of returning to victory, which has eluded them for the past eight races.
