Helmut Marko
Red Bull reveals bad news for Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen will have to fight for the F1 drivers’ championship without significant further upgrades from Red Bull – but development will continue.

Helmut Marko has confirmed Red Bull will not deliver any more “major updates” to the RB21 over the remainder of the F1 season, as Max Verstappen clings onto his slim hopes of retaining his drivers’ title.

 

 

 

Sitting third in the championship standings, 49 points adrift of Oscar Piastri, the Dutchman’s fight to win a record-equalling fifth-consecutive crown is fading fast.

 

 

 

Coming into the Spanish Grand Prix, the deficit was just 25 points – equivalent to a race win – but safety car and strategy misfortune, not to mention hitting the side of George Russell’s Mercedes, means he left the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with a solitary point whilst the Australian took his fifth victory of the campaign.

 

 

 

Throughout the year, Verstappen has been battling, and staying in touch, with Piastri and Lando Norris, despite racing in machinery inferior to the McLaren MCL39.

 

 

 

 

Part of the issue, as highlighted by Marko, is a lack of consistency from the Milton Keynes squad’s package. This, on top of a narrow operating window, has led to differing fortunes for Verstappen on any given weekend.

 

 

To win the drivers’ championship, we need a car that’s competitive on all tracks, not just on specific circuits. That’s not enough for the world championship,” the Austrian wrote in his Speedweek column.

 

 

Against the currently strong McLaren team, you only have a chance if everything goes perfectly. We have the perfect driver, but all the factors have to be right – the pit stops, the strategy, the car, and the tyre wear.

 

You have to get the car into the right working window and the tyres to the right temperature. Maybe it’s just a small adjustment that needs to be made.

 

We often start very poorly in practice on Friday and manage to improve the car by qualifying, sometimes making it capable of a podium finish or even a win. However, we lack the consistency that McLaren demonstrates.