Formula 1 News: Verstappen cuts break short to help Red Bull sled

(GMM) Max Verstappen will shorten his time at home this week in order to collaborate with engineers and team management amid Red Bull’s current crisis – the RB21 is a sled.

Liam Lawson potentially losing his seat is grabbing the headlines, but the core problem is not only how difficult the RB21 is to drive, but that – according to Verstappen – it is slower than the McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes.

Team advisor Dr Helmut Marko indicated as he left Shanghai that urgent upgrades will be fast-forwarded for introduction at Suzuka.

“A quick fix like that, if it works out, would be great. But we can’t rely on it,” the 81-year-old Austrian warned.

Quadruple world champion Verstappen is also unsure.

“It’s difficult to say when things will get better,” said the Dutchman. “Hopefully in Japan, of course.”

Marko flagged a key meeting in Milton-Keynes this week, and it emerges that 27-year-old Verstappen will be there. “Max will come to the factory to discuss the weaknesses,” Marko confirmed.

That is despite the driver’s original plans to be at home in Monaco with his heavily-pregnant girlfriend Kelly Piquet. Reportedly, a plane will be on hand in the event that he needs to urgently return if Kelly goes into labor.

Marko isn’t worried the birth of Verstappen’s child will alter his focus, though.

“It won’t bother him,” he told Osterreich newspaper. “The race and the world championship are his absolute priority.”