A decision at Red Bull not to create a low-downforce rear wing back in 2022 is resulting in a tough weekend in Las Vegas in 2024 for Max Verstappen.

Verstappen could only qualify fifth for the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix, with Red Bull’s RB20 not enjoying the benefit of a low-downforce rear wing to help reduce the drag down the straights.

Max Verstappen: Our rear wing is a bit of a handicap

Red Bull endured a very difficult practice day at the Las Vegas Strip Circuit, with Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez both over a second off the pace as misinformation about Red Bull bringing the ‘wrong’ rear wing to the Las Vegas GP circulated.

Red Bull, unlike its rivals at the head of the field, doesn’t have a low-downforce rear wing created, which has resulted in the mechanics doing their best to strip their usual wings back without any compromise of structural integrity.

The Las Vegas circuit has particularly lengthy straights, with the run between Turn 12 and 14 almost two kilometres long – a big hindrance for a team struggling with its drag levels.

This also hurt Red Bull at the Italian Grand Prix in September where Verstappen and Perez could only manage sixth and eighth, respectively.

“We opted to not make one. We don’t have one. So this is already from 2022,” Verstappen told media, including PlanetF1.com, after finishing the Las Vegas qualifying session in fifth – the Dutch driver getting himself in the mix in Q3 but ultimately finishing half a second away from pole position.

“I think we just never thought that we would run it [downforce] that low, and then, with the budget cap, you choose your priorities, and we shift to that.

“Would I like to have a lower wing, a lower-downforce wing? Yeah, for sure, or at least a different shape, a more efficient shape, but it’s something that we’ll look at.

“But, on the other hand, there’s only one more year left with these rules, and I don’t know if it makes sense, but for me, at least, it feels a bit like we throw away two race weekends like this and we definitely lose too much.”

Asked where he felt he was losing the most time, Verstappen joked: “In the corners and on the straights, so yeah!

“We know that with our wing, naturally, you lose top speed, especially with the DRS open. Yeah, it’s a bit of a handicap. We know that.

“That’s something, of course, that we have to deal with on a track like this, a track like Monza.

“But also, besides that, I always felt the tyres were a bit of a struggle for us to get them in the right operating window.

“I do think that we did the best we could in qualifying with what we had. P5 is the result, I mean, we got a bit lucky with Lewis [Hamilton] not putting a lap in. Otherwise, it would have been P6 but yeah, I think we really maximised what we could.”

With Red Bull showing better on qualifying day than in practice, Verstappen praised the efforts made by his team to pull back some of the deficit after realising the extent of the handicap.

“Yesterday, I think we were more than a second off, and today that’s a little bit less,” he said.

“I also really feel like we optimised it as a team. Of course, still too slow, but I think more than half of that is already just on the straight.

“So that is just something that there’s nothing that you can do.”

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With DRS on the rear wing in constant use to unlock laptime in qualifying, Verstappen is hopeful that, in race trim, the deficit won’t be quite as apparent.

“Naturally, of course, the wing is not the most efficient, but hopefully, with everyone DRS closes a little bit better, because, yeah, when you trim your DRS, naturally you have less of a DRS effect,” he said.

“That’s what is quite painful in qualifying.

“Naturally, of course, in the race, when you try to pass people, you have less of an effect, so that will be a bit more difficult. But yeah, hopefully, we’re just decent on tyres.

“My long runs haven’t been really that good, but we also made some changes to the car, and hopefully, that will help the tyres out as well.”

Verstappen’s fifth-place grid slot still has him ahead of title rival Lando Norris, who lines up alongside him in sixth place. If Verstappen finished ahead of Norris on race day, he will wrap up his fourth consecutive world title, but the Dutch driver isn’t getting too carried away at this point.

“It’s nice today,” he said, “but it’s more important tomorrow.”

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