Max Verstappen hopeful of Red Bull "issues" fix in bid to fight Mercedes

Verstappen in new RB16B — Photo: © LAT Images

Red Bull

Verstappen hopeful of Red Bull "issues" fix in bid to fight Mercedes

Red Bull pushed development later than most last season

Sam Hall

Tuesday 9 March 2021 18:00 Updated: 18:21

Max Verstappen is hopeful Red Bull has found cures over the winter for the issues it suffered with last year's car as he targets a more robust challenge to Mercedes this season.

Red Bull pushed the development of the RB16 up to the season-ending race in Abu Dhabi which proved beneficial as Verstappen closed out the campaign with a win from pole position.

There were still deficiencies with that car, notably given its nervous rear end, while Honda suffered occasional glitches with its power unit.

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Despite Verstappen's positive result in Abu Dhabi, the flipside is that it was widely known Mercedes stopped development on its W11 considerably earlier.

Explaining his primary concerns he would like to see addressed for this season, Verstappen said: "I just wanted more grip.

"It didn’t mean it was very tricky to drive because you adapt to the situation you’re in.

"Mercedes, of course, stopped developing that car from June or July because you couldn’t really see a lot of updates.

“We just kept learning. We knew we had issues with that car and we wanted to improve it.

"Knowing the regulations wouldn’t change that much, of course, the floor changed a bit but in general, the car's stayed the same, for us it was important to just get on top of that.

“Let’s see this year if we have improved it even more and even better and stayed more competitive compared to Mercedes.”

Mercedes has won seven consecutive drivers' and constructors' championship titles dating back to 2014 following a four-year spell of Red Bull domination.

Team principal Christian Horner has described the RB16B as an evolution of Red Bull's 2020 car rather than being an entirely new piece of machinery.

Despite saying he wanted more grip, Verstappen added that neither does he want a car that feels too malleable.

“The car is always on the edge," added Verstappen. "A fast car is never super-easy to drive. If it becomes too easy to drive, most of the time it is too understeery anyway."