Joe McConnell
Max Verstappen admits Red Bull have been overtaken by their vastly improved F1 rivals and says the reigning champions “know there is work to do” to improve when the season resumes at the end of August.
For the first time since 2020, the season before Verstappen won his first world title, Red Bull went four races without a win after the Belgian Grand Prix, the final round before the sport’s ongoing summer break.
Verstappen, who started 11th due to a grid penalty, and teammate Sergio Perez finished fourth and seventh respectively at Spa-Francorchamps, after a race in which the much-improved Mercedes had initially finished first and second before George Russell was disqualified.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc also edged out Red Bull at the top of the standings.
And as McLaren and Mercedes have made great progress this season, sharing the last four wins, Verstappen has hinted that it is clear that Red Bull no longer has the fastest car in F1.
“I think they are ahead of us,” Verstappen said. Vscek F1.
“It depends. Sometimes McLaren, sometimes Mercedes.
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George Russell disqualified from Belgian GP due to underweight Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton moves up from second to take victory.
“I think we were quicker than Ferrari, but coming from P11 we didn’t have enough time to overtake them. We know we have some work to do.
“We know we want to do better, obviously we are not satisfied with this, but everyone is doing a great job and for that we also have to take our hats off.”
How much are Verstappen and Red Bull’s records at risk?
The last few races have been very different to the start of the season, when Verstappen won four of the first five races and then three of the next five to open up a clear early lead in the drivers’ championship.
His lead over his nearest rival, Lando Norris, still stands at 78 points, with Verstappen’s cause helped by the fact that performances have fluctuated between teams in recent races and he remains the only driver this season to have won consecutive races.
Verstappen’s lead remains just above the points equivalent of three race wins, with 10 Grands Prix and three Sprints scheduled in 2024.
But Red Bull’s lead in the constructors’ championship has become much more precarious amid Perez’s sustained struggles for form, with McLaren now just 42 points behind them. The gap between the teams had been 115 points after the first six rounds of the season.
Looking back on his fourth-place grid spot at Spa, after starting with a penalty, Verstappen said: “If I had started in P1 where I qualified, my race would probably have been very different and then maybe I could have fought for the win,” Verstappen said.
“But obviously we got that penalty, you start P11 and then you get stuck in traffic on a track where tyre life and overheating are crucial factors, it’s a pretty tricky race.”
So McLaren is currently the team with the fastest car in F1?
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Oscar Piastri admits he struggled to get his first win last time out in Hungary and is determined to get more in the future.
In terms of sheer consistency, McLaren has been the standard-bearer on the grid in recent months, with a run of 10 consecutive podium finishes – the Woking team’s best run since 13 consecutive finishes in 2011-12.
They were also the highest-scoring team in their last eight games.
But the team has repeatedly stressed that this does not mean they have the fastest car from one circuit to the next, even if rivals disagree.
“I think it’s one of the fastest,” said Oscar Piastri of their impressive MCL38 car.
“In Budapest we were the fastest. [In Belgium] I made too many mistakes in qualifying and that cost us a bit. But it’s very tight.
“If we are the fastest, it’s not by much. I think Red Bull were very fast this weekend, only Max was stuck in dirty air. Mercedes are obviously very strong as well, but we probably had a small advantage, but we weren’t in the position on the track to capitalise on it.”
And what about Mercedes after three wins out of four?
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A 360-degree look at Lewis Hamilton’s sensational start to the Belgian Grand Prix, as he passed Sergio Perez and then Charles Leclerc to take the lead!
Meanwhile, Mercedes are also enjoying their best run of action in the current era of ground effect regulations, with the former champions heading into the summer on the strength of three wins in four race weekends.
Lewis Hamilton has taken two of those victories, the second of which in Belgium was inherited after teammate Russell was ruled out for an underweight car, and he recognises that their sudden resurgence has come as a surprise to them as it has to everyone else.
“I think it’s really great for the sport to have such a close-knit team and drivers,” Hamilton said.
“And you know, the genealogy of the top drivers today is really elite and extraordinary.
“We didn’t expect to be competing with the McLarens or the Red Bulls at this point in the season, you know, with how we started. So for us to have finished… it’s definitely going to be a killer second half of the season.”
Formula 1 returns after the summer break with the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort from 23-25 August, live on Vscek F1. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month subscription – No contract, cancel anytime
