Tired Verstappen puts pressure on Red Bull: 'Change the car before Baku'
- Nicole Mulder
Max Verstappen had a clear message for Red Bull Racing after the Italian Grand Prix: A lot needs to change, and fast. Otherwise, the Dutchman stressed, the team and Verstappen's title chances do not look good. Ideally, he would like to see his Formula 1 team"change the whole car" before the GP in Baku.
Verstappen puts pressure on Red Bull after Italian GP
Asked by F1TV about his radio messages during the race and whether he was very frustrated, Verstappen replied, "To be honest, I wasn't really frustrated throughout the race. I was just doing my own race. Yeah, the pace was not there, but we also had a bad pit stop. I think our strategy was not on point today, even though of course, it wouldn't have changed our position."
He continued: "I think we could have done a better race in general. It doesn't help that you can't run full power for most of the race with the engine because we had an issue." Earlier, Verstappen explained that he and his teammate Sergio Perez were struggling with a technical problem that prevented them from running at full power.
The next race is the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. For Red Bull to perform better there than at Monza, many, many changes need to be made. The three-time world champion is clear about that. "It's really bad at the moment. And before Baku we have a lot of work to do to basically change the whole car," Verstappen concluded.
This article has been created in collaboration with Matt Gretton