By Alan Baldwin
MONZA, Italy (Reuters) – Formula One championship leader Max Verstappen said Red Bull had turned a dominant car into an undriveable monster and both titles were slipping away after he struggled to sixth place at the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday.
The Dutch triple world champion won a record 19 of 22 races last year in the most one-sided season on record, and he started 2024 strongly as well.
Verstappen has now not won for six races and is 62 points clear of McLaren’s Lando Norris with eight races remaining. McLaren are a mere eight points behind in the constructors’ standings.
“Last year we had a great car, which was the most dominant car ever. And we basically turned it into a monster,” he told reporters at Monza, a super-fast circuit where he won last year and in 2022. “So we have to turn it around.
“At the moment both championships are not realistic.”
Verstappen said he had been unable to race with full power because of an engine issue and the team could have done a better job on strategy.
“We basically went from a very dominant car to an undriveable car in the space of, what, six to eight months,” he added. “That is very weird for me. We need to really turn the car upside down.”
At one point Verstappen was heard on the radio sharply telling the team to stay awake.
He explained that was related to battery percentage and the team giving him an instruction to save and then failing to notify him when he could push harder.
“These are obvious things that you need to be on top of. I know that I’m not racing anyone, but that shouldn’t matter,” he said. “It’s still an F1 race where you have to maximise everything.”
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Alex Richardson)
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