Max Verstappen experienced a bitter setback in the fight for the world title in qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix. Also Red Bull consultant Dr. Helmut Marko sees McLaren’s competition finally overtaken.
The World Cup chances for Max Verstappen are after his surprising qualifying debacle and exit in Q1 Helmut Marko had to admit to “Sky” after the time hunt in Sao Paulo that it had “dropped significantly”.
The still reigning world champion only ended up in 16th place, although he had once again reached into his bag of tricks before the last round. Verstappen, who was visibly struggling with his car due to a lack of grip, drove two slow laps before the end of Q1 in order to then put everything on one card. But that didn’t bring the desired success either.
“I couldn’t push at all. The car was completely restless and constantly sliding. I had to drive well below the limit just to avoid making a mistake – and of course that doesn’t work in qualifying,” he complained afterwards.
According to Marko, Red Bull’s plans to add new parts to the RB21 had “gone seriously wrong”. The frightening conclusion: “We have become slower everywhere and have lost time in all sectors. The damage has been done. Things are not looking good.”
Red Bull is “taking risks”
The changes added in Mexico “did not bring the hoped-for success.” However, Red Bull assumed “that we would find the right direction. But that wasn’t the case. We have to look at where we took a wrong turn.”
According to Helmut Marko, before the race on Sunday (6:00 p.m.), they want to get together to discuss possible short-term adjustments to the car: “We have to see what we can do with this situation.”
Regarding the strategy for the race, Verstappen only said: “We now have to understand what happened. I don’t understand how it can be so bad. That’s the most important thing at the moment.” According to Verstappen, an engine change for the race is “not necessarily” planned – but the team wants to “check everything tonight.” Another set-up change with a start from the pit lane seems possible.
Meanwhile, team boss Laurent Mekies admitted to “Sky” that Red Bull “consciously took a risk” before qualifying to see whether they could get the car into a better working window. The answer: “It was clearly going in the wrong direction. That’s how it is sometimes: when you take risks, things don’t always work out in your favor,” he says. “It’s painful, but something we can learn from and improve.”