Jul.28 (GMM) Red Bull is already considering an earlier-than-usual shift towards its 2027 car as Max Verstappen continues to expose the weaknesses of the current package.
Verstappen has remained fiercely critical of the car despite repeatedly dragging it onto the podium, while rumours continue about exit clauses and Red Bull’s attempts to secure his long-term future.
Former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone was told by Blick that bookmakers now rate Verstappen at 43-1 to win the championship. “With odds like these, I have to place a bet again,” the 95-year-old smiled.
“But unfortunately, Max is unlikely to make it.”
De Telegraaf journalist Erik van Haren observed: “Red Bull owes Max Verstappen a huge thank you for still driving for that team.”
Team principal Laurent Mekies admitted Red Bull may soon have to reduce development of the current car. “At some point, we’ll have to decide how to balance our efforts between this season and next,” he said.
“I think it will happen sooner than last year, especially given the current regulations. Then we’ll make a final decision.”
Mekies said Red Bull has already introduced an unusually large number of upgrades in an attempt to recover from its poor start.
“It’s hard to imagine we’ll be able to maintain this pace of development,” said the Frenchman.
“But we still need to figure out the best way to make up those remaining three tenths.”
The former Ferrari engineer also admitted Red Bull has struggled with an excessively narrow operating window for several seasons.
“It’s not like we’re saying we’d like to operate in this narrow working window for years to come,” Mekies told De Telegraaf.
“It’s not like we’re not listening to Max, but we’re very careful about the compromises we have to make that affect performance.”
Technical director Pierre Wache recently conceded that Verstappen can detect behaviour that does not appear in Red Bull’s data.
“The fact is that Max feels things which we can’t measure with our current data analysis and sensors in the car,” Mekies confirmed.
“This is the result of his extraordinary sensitivity in the car and the technical level he has in him. I dare say that all the other teams wouldn’t notice the things that Max feels in the car, but we can’t see in the data.”
“That’s Max’s big advantage. That is why he is the driving force behind the successes of this team.”
Verstappen, however, dismissed the significance of continuing to collect podiums with an uncompetitive car. “That’s nice, of course, but I’m not getting excited about that,” he told Viaplay.
“We’re not just here to make TikToks and do fun things. We are only here to win.”
Teammate Isack Hadjar agreed that the car was almost impossible to handle in Hungary.
“We didn’t find anything with which the car was driveable,” he said.
Hadjar was also unhappy about being used strategically to delay Ferrari and McLaren for Verstappen. “That was very annoying,” he said.
“I wanted to make my pitstop very early or very late, but we stopped on the worst possible lap. I don’t like to bother the leaders in the race.”
“I know why we’re doing this, but I’d rather avoid these situations.”
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