F1 News: Verstappen’s father slams Red Bull after Dutch GP
(GMM) The deteriorating situation at Red Bull has just become worse, as Max Verstappen’s father Jos slams the ongoing management crisis.
It is now abundantly clear that McLaren is the new dominant force in Formula 1, as Verstappen trailed Lando Norris to the checkered flag at Zandvoort by a staggering 23 seconds.
“It’s reminiscent of Max and Lewis (Hamilton)’ best periods,” said Mercedes boss Toto Wolff.
The points gap is now down to 70 points with nine races to go – with one of those additional points for Norris on Sunday being for the fastest lap.
“Norris set the fastest time on the last lap without DRS, with a 1.13.8,” said Red Bull consultant Dr Helmut Marko. “We could only dream of that.
“We have a lot of work to do, because this 70 point lead is not enough with nine races to go,” he told Servus TV. “The difference here was so big that it’s alarming.
“Nine more second places will not be enough.”
So impressed was Fernando Alonso with McLaren’s form that the first thing he did after climbing out of his Aston Martin in parc fermé was to spend a conspicuous amount of time inspecting the McLaren – even laying down to get a closer view.
“You always try to be inspired by whoever is dominating,” said the Spaniard. “We all have to learn from them.
“They keep introducing improvements that really work, while Red Bull introduce new things and they have made things worse. The result is 22 seconds at the finish line.”
But just as Red Bull’s situation becomes increasingly worrying for the team, Verstappen’s mercurial father Jos – who has been openly flirting with a potential switch to Mercedes for his son – has chimed in again.
“Over 20 seconds is a huge disappointment,” he told Bild newspaper, “but that’s not surprising when you reverse engineer the car.”
Indeed, Red Bull’s car specification at Zandvoort was a mix of old parts and new parts – as engineers try to figure out how the season started to go wrong.
“That says it all,” Verstappen senior insists. “The team has taken the wrong turn several times. Internally, they should hold up a mirror and not always sugarcoat everything.
“It’s time – if it’s not already too late – to question themselves. The good people are leaving the team. I’m very unhappy with what’s happening because Max cannot be happy with a car like this.
“Now it is up to (Christian) Horner to get the team back on track. I’ll be surprised if he does. A lot has to happen for that. The whole spirit has to change.”
Horner’s Excuse This Time
Christian Horner, Red Bull Team Principal, reflected deeply on the team’s decisions and their impact on the race outcome. In a detailed analysis, Horner explained that the team had opted for a car setup with increased downforce, anticipating benefits that never came to fruition.
“Having got the lead, you suddenly start to think. He managed to break the DRS. But then it was very clear that suddenly Lando from lap 5, 6 onwards started to come back quite hard.
“We just didn’t have the pace today. With hindsight, the gamble that we made with the more downforce perhaps wasn’t the best route. And looking at Checo’s pace, it looked like it was easier for him in the second half of the race. McLaren were very quick today. We’ve got work to do to get more pace.”
Discussing the championship implications, Horner remained pragmatic:
“It’s only the fourth time this year his lead has been reduced. But we’ve got to keep scoring. And on the days you can’t win, you’ve got to finish second. And he did that today. Checo drove a decent race as well. His pace was solid. So we know we need to improve the car. And I think we got some good lessons out of this race.”