Max Verstappen reveals bleak Red Bull diagnosis after Dutch Grand Prix disaster

Max Verstappen has admitted that his Red Bull team are already looking to 2027 with a number of areas of improvement.

Speaking after his Lap 1 crash at the Dutch Grand Prix on Sunday, the Dutchman predicted 'not...the most straightforward end to the season' for he and his team, with any title challenge well out of reach for some time.

Verstappen's crash was, in many ways, a fitting culmination to an extraordinarily underwhelming final home race weekend in F1, which had seen him place sixth in sprint qualifying and the sprint race, and then seventh in grand prix qualifying.

Tjhe 28-year-old four-time world champion ended up being one of two drivers caught out by the drying conditions at the start of Sunday's race, admitting that he hit the power too early after seeing a dry patch in the final corner. That mistake resulted in hard contact with the outside wall, as Gabriel Bortoleto spun harmlessly behind him in sympathy.

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Verstappen: Some things can only be changed next year

"It was of course still quite wet in that corner," he told Sky Sports after the race.

"As soon as I was going through the corner I could see a little bit of a dry line coming and I thought from this point on I could accelerate again, but it suddenly accelerated a lot and it caught me out, simple as that.

"Tried to correct it, but couldn’t. Then you hit the wall, but it could have been a lot worse, because there were a lot of cars behind me as well, luckily that all went well.”

On his and Red Bull's outlook for the rest of the season, he added: “If you look on average the whole season, we have been fourth fastest. I think this weekend really highlighted that, we’re a little bit behind but we want to be closer. Maybe in Monza we are, but I don’t know.

"We’re getting towards the end of the season and you also have to look at next year, I think there are a few things in the car that we are looking at that can only be changed next year to really find a lot more performance.

"We will try to maximise everything we can with this car, but it’s not going to be, let’s say, the most straightforward end to the season, but we’ll try to do the best we can.”

Future offers more hope for Verstappen and Red Bull

While the situation at Red Bull is bleak right now, there is significant hope for the future.

Last Thursday Verstappen announced that he had signed a new contract extension through to 2030, ending all those doubts about his F1 future.

The team also have (per FIA ADUO benchmarking) the best power unit on the grid in the first season of the Red Bull Powertrains project.

Red Bull are also in the process of restocking their talent pool in Milton Keynes with the capture of ace Mercedes talent scout Gwen Lagrue, and likely former Aston Martin star Tom McCullough as well.

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