Max Verstappen is eight points behind Lando Norris in the F1 world championship ahead of this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix. That represents a success, of sorts, after the first two rounds of the season.
Verstappen believes Red Bull are the fourth-fastest team on the grid, but he used his renowned skills in changeable conditions to grab second place behind Norris at the Australian GP. In China, he rallied late on to pass Charles Leclerc and take fourth.
The four-time world champion has faultlessly maximised his car’s potential, just as he did last season when McLaren leapfrogged Red Bull. But this time, he doesn’t have a championship lead to fall back on.
Verstappen may be worried that the gap to Norris, currently manageable, will grow unless Red Bull take urgent action. They axed Liam Lawson and promoted Yuki Tsunoda after the Chinese GP, and a fresh perspective could theoretically help.
However, Verstappen didn’t agree with Red Bull dropping Lawson. He felt the second driver debate, which has continued from last year, was a distraction from the team’s biggest problems.
Red Bull ignored Adrian Newey philosophy with new car – Jos Verstappen was worried
According to BBC Sport’s Andrew Benson, Red Bull have ‘chased peak aerodynamic performance’, but that’s come at the cost of ‘driveability’. Since the mid-point of last year, drivers have been reporting problems with the car’s handling.
Engineers have focused on raising the car’s ceiling rather than making it more compliant. And Benson says this is ‘exactly the opposite’ of Adrian Newey’s approach.
Newey resigned from his post as chief technical officer last spring, having worked for the team for nearly 20 years. The architect of eight championship-winning cars, he started work at new team Aston Martin in March.
| ADRIAN NEWEY CONSTRUCTORS’ TITLES | TEAM |
| 1992 | Williams |
| 1993 | Williams |
| 1994 | Williams |
| 1996 | Williams |
| 1997 | Williams |
| 1998 | McLaren |
| 2010 | Red Bull |
| 2011 | Red Bull |
| 2012 | Red Bull |
| 2013 | Red Bull |
| 2022 | Red Bull |
| 2023 | Red Bull |
‘Throughout his career’, Newey has sought to widen a car’s working window, even at the expense of theoretical downforce. But his successor, Pierre Wache, has gone in a different direction, and it doesn’t seem to be working.
Speaking during the off-season, Max’s father Jos Verstappen aired his concerns about Red Bull. It was ‘incredibly important’, he said, that they could retain their level with ‘new people’ at the helm
And ‘if they can’t figure it out’, it would be a ‘worry’ for the years ahead. With the world champion’s future uncertain, Red Bull’s design office have done little to reassure his camp.
Why Adrian Newey pushed back against Red Bull signing Yuki Tsunoda before he left
Red Bull will suffer more ‘massive’ exits before the Bahrain GP as Honda engineers depart early. The partnership with the Japanese manufacturer ends in December.
Christian Horner reportedly offered the engineers in question the chance to join the Red Bull Powertrains project. But they preferred to stay with Honda and help new customers Aston Martin instead.
- READ MORE: All to know about Aston Martin managing technical partner Adrian Newey
Red Bull expressed confidence that they were primed for post-Newey success, and while it’s too early to make a definitive judgement, the early signs are far from promising.
Intriguingly, Newey was also against the signing of Tsunoda when he was at Milton Keynes. He viewed the 24-year-old as impetuous, but the team have praised his increased maturity after their recent driver swap.
