Max Verstappen told he’s now facing ‘difficult’ problem that infuriated Ayrton Senna during his F1 career

Max Verstappen and Ayrton Senna have many things in common when it comes to their times in Formula 1.

Last season saw Max Verstappen surpass the three drivers’ championships that Ayrton Senna won during his career.

Senna and Alain Prost’s rivalry was incredibly intense, and reminiscent of how Verstappen won his first title up against Lewis Hamilton in 2021.

However, the Dutchman has never been teammates with anyone at Red Bull who challenged him like Prost challenged the Brazilian.

It’s fitting, then, that Martin Brundle has just compared Oscar Piastri to Prost after his win at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Verstappen’s closest rivals this season are the two McLaren drivers, but he’s at a clear disadvantage to the two papaya cars.

Last season, the 27-year-old was able to drive around the problems with the RB20 and cling on to the lead he had over Norris and Charles Leclerc, but this year, he’s been unable to establish that same advantage.

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Max Verstappen facing problem that Ayrton Senna ‘couldn’t handle’ during his Formula 1 career

Experienced journalist Michael Schmidt was speaking on the Formel Schmidt program and explaining the problem that Verstappen is currently facing at Red Bull.

He said: “What does he want to do? Well, he can only hope that the engineers will finally find a way out of this dilemma because the dilemma is the same as last year.

“They’ve had the balance problem a few times before. They had it with the Red Bull RB20, and now they have it with the RB21.

“They had this up and down in form last year, too, so these aren’t new problems.

“Obviously, there’s a lack of understanding. They’re all talking about the big upgrade in Imola, but to be honest, the upgrade that’s coming to Imola started a few weeks ago.

“They can only react to what they’re noticing now to a limited extent, but in the end, it’s the same thing they’ve always had.

“So, in that respect, I’d be cautious, but again, what does Verstappen want to do? He’s not in the best car right now, you just have to accept that.

“I know it’s difficult for him, it was also difficult for Ayrton Senna in his time. He couldn’t handle situations like this very well, but it is what it is, and Max isn’t beaten yet.”

READ MORE: All to know about Ayrton Senna including Alain Prost rivalry and Imola crash

Ayrton Senna’s frustrating years at Lotus and the infamous 1989 F1 finale

Senna won the Formula 1 world championship in 1988, 1990 and 1991, all while racing for McLaren.

His victory in 1990 forced Prost to leave McLaren, but that ultimately backfired on the Brazilian, when Prost denied Senna the chance to race for Ferrari, as he didn’t want to be reunited with him as a teammate again.

However, in 1989, Senna was controversially disqualified from the Japanese Grand Prix after a collision with Prost that denied him the title.

In the years before racing for McLaren, he spent three seasons at Lotus, where his talents were obvious, but he simply wasn’t in a fast or reliable enough car to mount a championship challenge.

Verstappen was fuming with Red Bull’s pit stop issues in Bahrain, something he’s never had to worry about during his time at the team.

If those standards are beginning to slip, then that will force him to question his long-term future with the Anglo-Austrian outfit.