Max Verstappen F1 nightmare as Red Bull boss reveals 'huge problem'

Red Bull leadership have continued to sound unconfident about their chances of delivering a winning car to Max Verstappen.

The Dutchman has complained about a 'degrading car' which gets worse as sessions and races go on, with Laurent Mekies acknowledging those problems last time out in Madrid and technical director Pierre Wache sounding particularly concerned this week in Baku.

Speaking after Thursday practice, in which Verstappen was the fastest non-Mercedes car in both sessions, Wache admitted that he's not confident that the solutions brought by the team will provide a 'full fix' by the start of next season.

Mekies confirmed this week that the upgrade that Red Bull have brought for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix will be their last 'significant' package of the year as they switch their focus to 2027.

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Red Bull chief admits 'massive issue'

While the team are making the move to 2027 primacy earlier than some of their biggest rivals, Wache still admitted on Thursday: "I'm not confident. Otherwise, I will stop working. You are never confident even more when you have this type of issue.

"It's every time a compromise in our business, you know, and you try to maximise the overall car weight, overall performance of the aero package, and you don't want to to destroy everything also to have that.

"But, you know, you are working on it, and we are trying to fix it because it's a massive issue. But to be confident that it would be a full fix, I am not."

That backs up what Mekies said in the Spanish capital, when he told the media: "I don't think we are going to explain what it is and how we are going to fix it. I think Max is right. There is an element of car performance degradation that is happening through a session as for a race. He's right in saying it is not a new issue. We are not sleeping on it."

He added: "I trust that we are on the right way. It will not be fast. So it's something that probably will take us through next year."

Double podium in Baku, but still work to do

In the end, Red Bull actually went on to secure a double podium in Azerbaijan, with Max Verstappen coming home in P2 just 0.196 seconds behind race winner George Russell and Isack Hadjar in P3.

However, Verstappen was only able to get that close after a late turbo issue for Russell that nearly cost him the victory, and two safety car periods, so in reality, Red Bull were still quite far off the pace.

In more positive news for the team, they did take a big chunk out of McLaren's advantage over them in the constructors' championship.

McLaren remain third heading to the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, but Red Bull end the day just 43 points behind them having started it 76 adrift.

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Written by

Chris Deeley - Editor

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