Max Verstappen misled Red Bull as F1 boss described “magnified” problems
- Max Verstappen misled Red Bull as F1 boss described “magnified” problems.
Max Verstappen’s talent is almost always a positive for his Red Bull team, but there have been times when his driving skills have been a bit of a hindrance.
Of course, this is a funny word. The three-time world champion’s latest crown at the age of 26 was unlike anything else in Formula 1 history. Of course, his Red Bull teammates love him. However, his immense talent has proven to be a hindrance to his teams before. – explained technical director Pierre Bauche, looking back at the 2020 season. It was a time when Mercedes was still the dominant force on the grid. Lewis Hamilton won his seventh title of the year, while Verstappen had to settle for his third after winning two races. Red Bull were the champion’s closest challengers but finished second, 254 points behind.
“We started 2020 not too far from Mercedes and then recovered from a big setback in the middle of the season,” Wach said at the end of the season. “It’s clear that we went in the wrong direction and then recovered. This is where we missed something in our analysis of the direction of development.
“We saw what the drivers can use in terms of performance. There were some characteristics that made it difficult to calculate the theoretical values, which we discovered in the middle of the season. This feature was a major limitation of the machine and we moved away from it. This was confirmed at the end of the season and became a good basis for “21”.
It’s not uncommon for F1 teams to take the wrong direction in development. All teams have tons of talent and some of the best technical minds in the world, but detailed regulations and the pursuit of marginal profits can easily cause teams to fall into the wrong pit.
As Wach explained, Verstappen’s incredible ability to get the most out of a jittery and unstable car in corners led them astray that year. When teammate Alex Albon fell further behind and the Dutchman himself hit a performance wall, Red Bull realized they were barking up the wrong tree, but it was too late on Monday.
The Frenchman continued: “Max’s ability was one of the reasons for the problems we faced. It has the ability to control such instability which is impossible for some people. We know that building cars on the edge like this can sometimes make them faster.
