Daniil Kvyat has weighed in on whether Red Bull’s F1 cars are tailor-made for Max Verstappen; the former Red Bull driver said that while that would be “logical”, it’s not the case.

Instead, he puts the Dutchman’s one-sided battles against his team-mates down to the latter getting it wrong with “one piece of the puzzle” that has “catastrophic” consequences.

Are Red Bull’s F1 cars tailor-made for Max Verstappen?

Verstappen stepped up to Red Bull Racing in 2016, replacing Kyvat as Daniel Ricciardo’s team-mate. The Aussie’s shock departure at the end of 2018 forced the team into promoting Pierre Gasly “too soon”, according to team principal Christian Horner, with the Frenchman then dropped mid-season for Alex Albon.

His stay also wasn’t a long one, as a year-and-a-half later, he made way for Sergio Perez. The experienced Mexican driver’s arrival put an end to the revolving door, with Perez spending three years with the Milton Keynes squad.

However, a lacklustre 2024 campaign, one that led to Red Bull losing the Constructors’ Championship, meant he was handing his marching orders and was replaced by Liam Lawson. That lasted all of two races.

Feeling the strain of being unable to get close to Verstappen proved too much for the New Zealander, and he was demoted to Racing Bulls with Yuki Tsunoda now in the Red Bull.

But questions are already being asked about him as the Japanese driver has scored just seven points in his five races while Verstappen has brought in 88.

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It begs the question, why are Verstappen’s team-mates struggling when he’s winning Grands Prix and World titles?

Asked if the Red Bull RB21 was tailor-made for the four-time World Champion, Kvyat told the official F1 website: It can be and it would be of course logical.

“But,” he continued, “I think the question is a lot of details in Formula 1 cars: there is tyre temperature, tyre operating window, there is a set-up, there is an aero window – it’s very complicated.

“If one piece of the puzzle is missing, the results can be catastrophic.

“You can be a good driver, but if you don’t put the car and tyres in that window, you will lack half a second. It’s normal, and that’s also one of the things that I had to learn how to deal with in my first years in F1.

“It’s a very interesting process, but if you get lost in it, it can really ruin your chances, and with Checo [Perez] – I don’t know, I didn’t drive that car, so I can’t tell you for sure.”

The former F1 driver concedes it’s tough for Verstappen’s team-mates to look good when they’re compared to the perfection of the four-time F1 World Champion.

That proved to be too much for Lawson, leading to the Kiwi’s demotion after just two races.

Although Kyvat that was a tough call, he says only Red Bull know what is right for the team.

“It’s tough, they are the team, they know what’s best for them,” Kvyat said.

“But of course, they have one part of the team [in Verstappen] that looks like they are perfect, they work really well. But then the other part is slightly… everything seems to be a little bit messier.

“I don’t know, I can’t tell the details, without being a part of the team for sure. What I know is, it is a fast car when you make it work – and why they can’t make it work is another question.”

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