Christian Horner believes a difference in set-up between Red Bull’s two cars compromised Max Verstappen’s performance in the Dutch Grand Prix.
Verstappen finished 16 seconds ahead of team mate Sergio Perez but 22 seconds behind race winner Lando Norris. Horner said the team were hopeful of contending for victory after Verstappen took the lead at the start, but said the higher downforce level on their lead car ultimately compromised him.“Having got the lead, you suddenly start to think okay, and he managed to break the DRS, but then it was very clear that suddenly Lando, from lap five, six onwards, started to come back quite hard,” Horner told Viaplay. “And we just didn’t have the pace today.
“I think with hindsight, the gamble that we made with more downforce perhaps wasn’t the best route. Looking at Checo’s pace, it looked like it was easier to him in the second half of the race.
“But congratulations to Lando and McLaren, they were very quick today. We’ve got work to do to get more pace.”
Verstappen was dissatisfied with his car’s handling from the beginning of the event. “The whole weekend has been the same,” he said. “I had pretty much the same balance from FP1 all the way to the race.
“The limitations are the same. It’s just very hard to solve at the moment.”
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He was the only driver in the field who took two new sets of hard compound tyres into the race. “It just seems like we are too slow, but also quite bad on deg at the moment,” he explained. “That’s a bit weird because I think the last few years normally we’ve been quite good on that.
“So something has been going wrong lately with the car that we need to understand and we need to, of course, quickly try to improve.”
Although he held the lead for the first 17 laps, Verstappen said it soon became clear he couldn’t contain Norris.
“I was just doing my own race, looking after the tyres, I tried to do the best I could,” he said. “But at one point nothing was turning or responding anymore.
“So then Lando got quite close. The first time he was close, but not close enough. Then the next lap, there was nothing that I could do.
“So once he passed, I just focused on doing my race, tried to bring it to the end in second.”
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2024 Dutch Grand Prix
- Previous technical hires no obstacle to Newey joining Aston Martin – Krack
- Mercedes still unsure whether Spa floor upgrade is working
- McLaren’s Dutch GP upgrade “nowhere near” as significant as Miami package
- “Very hard to pinpoint” why car has become harder to drive – Verstappen
- Only one F1 driver is making worse starts than Norris in 2024
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
25th August 2024, 20:52
I think his setup gamble started a few years ago. wink wink, nudge nudge.
falken (@falken)
25th August 2024, 21:02
“So something has been going wrong lately with the car ”
Like having to remove the funky asymmetric brakes, for instance?
MacLeod (@macleod)
26th August 2024, 7:41
@falken you know they have the problem the whole year….. (hard of their tyres i mean)
I think chancing the brakes producer is more the problem for Red Bull as they have brake problems changing the brake brand.
The teams (FIA said teams) who would have asymmetric brakes are Mercedes and McLaren as in the past they would create such devices. Red Bull makes more Aero tricks ….
SteveP
26th August 2024, 8:15
So, forced removal of the asymmetry improved McLaren and Mercedes?
Interesting theory.
SteveP
26th August 2024, 8:13
You’ll likely be suggesting that this:
is a symptom of not having “funky asymmetric brakes”
Whatever it is, the car seems a bit more average of late, as does Max. Which regulation change altered him?
Scotty (@rockonscotty)
27th August 2024, 1:10
I think Haas got hit the hardest with the brake rule adjustment. Hulk was looking to beach his car all weekend.
Nick T.
26th August 2024, 2:26
A quiet indictment of Perez at the same time. With him “only” 16 seconds behind Max, they know Checo’s setup was better.
An Sionnach
26th August 2024, 3:37
The plan is finally revealed and Checo is ready to take over as team leader. Now the Dutch Grand Prix is over they can drop Max for Ricciardo and bring Lawson into RB. It all makes sense now. Max will join Wesley Crusher as a being of pure energy who has transcended his humanity to turn into the essence of pure racing. Johhny Herbert will be fuming at this one – Max will be beyond his reach in a place beyond Steward-dom. If he tries to pass a Mercedes and it chops him as he goes past, the Mercedes will explode, in spite of the fact that they make their cars from duranium.
Nick T.
26th August 2024, 10:14
I agree with 100% of this, especially Herbert.
David BR (@david-br)
27th August 2024, 14:07
Jos Verstappen’s doing his bit for team morale (I’m summarizing): “Max won’t put up with this! Horner needs to sort it. The recent loss of staff hasn’t helped.”
Post-Miami, Red Bull have suddenly been catchable and suffering the same kinds of inconsistency as other teams with setup now a headache for them (in 2023, just one race where they had real issues). Obviously it’s down to some toy being removed.