Max Verstappen on Sunday night claimed he cannot retain the world championship because his Red Bull is a ‘monster’.
The Dutchman seemed almost resigned to his team’s current malaise after finishing sixth in the Italian Grand Prix, leaking 10 points to his only likely rival for the crown, third-placed Lando Norris.
Verstappen’s lead stands at 70 points with eight rounds left, while Red Bull head McLaren by a slender eight points in the constructors’ standings.
‘At the moment neither championship is realistic,’ said Verstappen. ‘We must keep working and push flat-out. There are no excuses.
‘We have gone from the most dominant car ever to an undriveable car in the space of six to eight months. We have turned it into a monster. That is very weird, so we need to turn the car upside down.’
It is a barely believable reversal that has seen Verstappen go five races without a win, having won seven of the first 10 rounds. His team-mate Sergio Perez started and finished eighth on Sunday.
Had McLaren taken a one-two, having locked out the front row, they would be leading the constructors’ this morning.
The dip in form follows the infighting that has destabilised Red Bull since a female employee accused team boss Christian Horner of ‘inappropriate behaviour’ — charges of which he was cleared in an internal inquiry.
Star designer Adrian Newey subsequently announced he will be leaving. He is no longer as closely involved in decision-making while he runs down his contract prior to his departure at the end of the year.
Asked about the impact of losing the services of the £15million-a-year boffin, Verstappen explained: ‘I always said I would have preferred if Adrian stayed but it is not about that now. I have said a lot to the team, and it is up to them to come with a lot of changes because we are bad everywhere.’
Horner struck a similar chord to his disgruntled triple world champion, saying: ‘With the pace we had today, both championships will be under pressure, for sure. No one puts us under more pressure than ourselves. Finishing sixth hurts.
‘We have a disconnection in balance that just isn’t working and as soon as you end up in that situation you are harder on tyres and you end up compensating, moving the balance around.
‘You secure one problem and find another and end up in a vicious circle. It is a characteristic we know and there is full focus in the factory.’
As for the departure of the 65-year-old Newey, Horner added: ‘The issues were already there and one man’s input could never be so dramatic, so quickly. This started in Miami in May and Adrian was plugged in up until the Friday of Miami.’
Meanwhile, English teenager Ollie Bearman is set to race in Baku a week on Sunday after Haas’s Kevin Magnussen was banned for racking up 12 points after pranging with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly yesterday.
