Max Verstappen believes Red Bull deserved “more” than its eventual third place in the Constructors’ Championship, behind McLaren and Ferrari.

While Red Bull started F1 2024 in dominant fashion to open up a big lead in the Constructors’ Championship, Sergio Perez’s form was such that it resulted in the Milton Keynes-based squad slipping to third overall in the final quarter of the season.

Max Verstappen: Red Bull didn’t panic during tough times

With Red Bull’s RB20 also going off the rails through the middle section of the season as the development path taken proved to take the car in the wrong direction, the team managed to stabilise the ship to allow Verstappen to fight for podiums and wins again in the final races – his win in Brazil, in particular, proving the killer blow in the Drivers’ Championship.

But, while Verstappen’s relentless results enabled him to wrap up his fourth consecutive Drivers’ Championship, Perez’s inability to score points on a consistent basis allowed both McLaren and Ferrari to get, and stay, ahead in the Constructors’ Championship.

Reflecting on the season at the FIA’s Prizegiving Gala in Rwanda on Friday, Verstappen spoke about the varying form of the season for Red Bull.

“This season, as you could see also in the video [a highlights reel was played to the attending audience], was quite up and down,” Verstappen said.

“We had a great start to the year. Everything was looking great, I think especially from the outside.

“As a team, you always understand your limitations and what you want to work on, and then the competition did a great job – they improved their cars a lot and made it a lot more difficult for us, especially in the Constructors’.

“We had a bit of a tough run in the middle of the season but, even when we were under pressure and we were having tough times, I think the team really stuck together.

“We didn’t panic, which, I think, could easily be done in those kind of situations.”

With Perez not in attendance at the event, Verstappen opted against mentioning him as he spoke about the effort in the Constructors’ Championship and said he believed Red Bull had deserved more after finishing 77 points behind McLaren’s winning effort.

“At the end of the day, I’m just very proud, very proud of everyone in the team as well,” he said.

“Of course, we’re not standing here as Constructors’ Champions, but, in a way, I do think we deserved a little bit more in that championship.

“I tried my very best, and we also know a lot about what we have to work on for next year, and I’m very excited about that as well because it does look like it’s going to be a proper fight between a lot of teams.”

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Red Bull employee clears up bonus misconception

With Perez heading to Red Bull’s factory in Milton Keynes for a factory homecoming during the week, the Mexican also took the opportunity to deliver gifts of bottles of tequila to the employees – a move that resulted in social media users joking that it was a “bribe” to make amends for costing the employees their annual bonuses.

Earlier this year, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko had hinted that the bonuses of the employees were in danger due to Perez’s performances, but X (formerly Twitter) user ‘Daz’, who posted evidence of working for Red Bull as Electronics Manufacturing Group Leader, said this isn’t accurate.

“Not in terms of WCC bonus,” he said.

“There’s other stuff but I don’t really know what I’m allowed to say.

“However, we do ok financially and RB do look after us well (in my opinion). If anything is hurting people’s pockets it’s the cost cap.”

As for Perez’s generous gift to the employees, he said: “This is the second bottle he’s gifted us. We’re still getting our bonus. It’s not a bribe. I’m looking forward to trying it.”

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