Max Verstappen started the 2024 season as F1 fans expected him to after what happened in the last two years. The Dutch racer managed to win seven of the first ten races of the ongoing season. Everybody was like history will repeat itself again. The Red Bull superstar had won 15 races in the 2022 season to help the team reclaim their hegemony on the grid. After 2013, Christian Horner’s team was once again at the top of the grid, thanks to the Dutchman and the superior Adrian Newey-designed car. Since Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez managed to win a couple of GPs in 2022, Red Bull won the constructor title with 17 wins.
But who knew their dominance would get a whole lot stronger? In 2023, the Austrian team finished with 21 wins in 22 races. Moreover, Max Verstappen won a record 19 GPs last year, breaking his own record. However, the Milton Keynes outfit did not know that they would face serious challenges in 2024. Albeit, the reigning triple-time champion had won seven of the first ten GPs, the team has been going downhill this season. They are on a seven-race losing streak.
Max Verstappen Taunts Red Bull Of Making Bad Changes To The Car
Max Verstappen finished at P5 in Baku, Azerbaijan. There was a wild end to the race when Verstappen’s teammate and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz took each other out on the second last lap. That incident between Sergio Perez and the Spanish driver promoted the defending champion up two places. Throughout the 51-lap race, everybody could hear the Dutch racer complaining over team radio regarding the RB20 car. Later, with three laps remaining, the recovering title rival, Lando Norris, was able to overtake Verstappen. In the post-race interview, Max Verstappen told the media, including Crash.net, that he believes the team paid the price for making the changes they did into qualifying. He added that those changes to the car made it really difficult to drive in Baku.
As per the Dutch driver, the wheels were coming off the ground near the corners, and the car was jumping a lot. Moreover, Verstappen says when the team does not have a contact patch with the tarmac, it gets really difficult. He added that they tried to fix the issue, but the changes just made it worse. Albeit, they made some wrong decisions going into qualifying, Verstappen believes with the new floor, the overall behavior is better. Anyway, Lando Norris overtaking him easily in the closing stages was “Not at all a surprise” for Max Verstappen. It is because the Dutch driver noted, “Everything in the 2024 Azerbaijan GP was the worst-case scenario for me.”
The Red Bull Superstar Claims, “McLaren Could Have Done Better, Too”
After the results of the race in Baku, McLaren is 20 points ahead of Red Bull. Oscar Piastri won his second race of the year. But Lando Norris only finished with three points more than Max Verstappen. The biggest title threat to the Dutchman finished at P4 in Baku behind George Russell of Mercedes. Currently, Norris is only 59 points behind Verstappen with seven races to go this year.
The Red Bull racer mentioned that there is no point to feel disappointed about missing the chance to build a bigger title lead over the McLaren driver. He tried to see things from a different angle. The triple-time champion mentioned that Lando’s team could have done a better job in Baku. He said it is what it is as he is happy to lose only three points to Norris.
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