Four races without a win

Bulls stumble: “Car has become a bitch”

Max Verstappen struggles with the weaknesses of the RB20.

(Bild: AP ( via APA) Austria Presse Agentur/ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Formula 1 is livelier than ever ahead of the festival in Zandvoort that Dutch fans are hoping for. In 14 races, there have been seven winners who are employed by four teams. In the bull stable, however, heads are hanging ...

Ahead of the race on the North Sea coast, Red Bull does not believe it will be able to restore the old order due to its inactivity during the summer break. Max Verstappen is winless in four consecutive races ahead of his 200th Grand Prix start and for the first time does not arrive at his home event as the favorite.

Max Verstappen enjoys home advantage at Zandvoort.

(Bild: EPA)

Since the return of the Dutch race to the 2021 Formula 1 calendar (2020 was canceled due to the pandemic), Verstappen has won all three editions. This has always resulted in exuberant Orange celebrations. "There's always a fantastic atmosphere at Zandvoort and the fans are incredible. That's why it's something special for me," said Verstappen ahead of the 15th round of the World Championship. He had enjoyed the summer break and now the three-time world champion feels refreshed and ready. "We are looking forward to next week and hope that we can fight for victory."

"No longer have balance"
However, the superiority of Red Bull and Verstappen has been gone for a few months now. McLaren emerged as a serious rival, and Mercedes recently celebrated an unexpected renaissance with three victories. "We have to solve our problems and find out where the fault lies, because we no longer have the balance in the car if you compare the current situation with the first three races," said Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko in his column at Speedweek.com. In terms of the world championship, Verstappen still has nothing to worry about, as he can draw on his impressive 78-point lead over Lando Norris.

According to Marko, Red Bull is engaged in "intensive brainstorming" to find out where they went wrong in the development of the car. However, there is unlikely to be any rapid progress. "There is nothing going on for two weeks during the summer break, which means that no work on the car is possible," emphasized Marko. Therefore, he does not think "that the big solution will come in Zandvoort." According to rumors, Red Bull could withdraw some of the latest upgrades as early as the race in Monza in order to get closer to this.

Helmut Marko (l.) and Max Verstappen

(Bild: GEPA/GEPA pictures)

"Detail work suffers"
In an interview with the specialist magazine Auto, Motor und Sport, Red Bull's Technical Director Pierre Wache was asked whether the decision to scrap the concept of the RB18 and RB19 for the new season was fundamentally the wrong one. "Perhaps we will come to the conclusion at the end of the year that it would have been better to continue developing the concept we had," he replied. However, he emphasized that the risk had been necessary. "We have the oldest wind tunnel in the entire field and the detailed work suffers. It was foreseeable that the others would optimize their concepts sooner or later, so we had to take a radical step."

Verstappen has not won since Spain at the end of June and has only finished on the podium once since then. However, he also gets the best out of a car that is not the fastest in the field. "We were the fastest in Austria and also in Spa. In Hungary, we were only a few hundredths off the pace - so we're already complaining at a high level," said Marko. What Verstappen achieved, however, his team-mate Sergio Perez did not. "The car has become a bitch that only Max can tame." Perez is working with a new race engineer in Zandvoort, as Hugh Bird is going on paternity leave and Richard Wood is stepping in.

With seven different winners already, the season has at least provided the best entertainment for neutral fans who are not tied to a driver or a specific team. Incidentally, the record in this respect is held by the 1982 season with eleven winners from seven different teams (the world champion was Keke Rosberg with just one one-day win). In order to reach this number, something extraordinary would have to happen several times in the remaining ten races in 2024 - of course, this cannot be ruled out.