Max Verstappen: There is something wrong with the car

In Zandvoort, Max Verstappen lost his home race, spent the fifth stage without any victories, but believes there is no reason to panic…

Q: Max, were there more problems in the race than on Saturday?
Max Verstappen: The whole weekend was the same. From the first practice to the finish the balance was almost the same. Now it is difficult to judge the reasons. The car lacked speed – this is obvious, although we had it right before.

There’s something wrong with the car lately, we need to turn the situation around as soon as possible.

Q: Is there a specific reason? At one point you said on the radio that the car was not responding. So the problem is understeer?
Max Verstappen: It’s just not balanced, both front and back.

Q: Let’s talk about the start. Do you think there was more grip on the inside? Charles made progress at the start. So did George Russel. And you too…
Max Verstappen: The start was normal. I also experienced a little slip. Sergio started well on the left. I think we just did everything right.

In most races this year we started successfully. Although here it was difficult to predict anything – the conditions were constantly changing, sometimes it was raining, sometimes it was dry, so there was no stable grip.

Q: Tell us about the first few laps. After you led the race, were you confident that you would hold the lead?
Max Verstappen: I just drove my own race, looked after the tyres, did everything I could. At one point the car stopped spinning and Lando came really close for the first time. And the next lap I couldn’t do anything. So once he took the lead I concentrated on my race and tried to finish second.

Q: Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of the car, how do you rate your chances in Monza?
Max Verstappen: I don’t know. If we solve the balance problems, it will help a lot. There are many new things in Monza: asphalt, kerbs, even the location of turns 1 and 2. All this has to be sorted out.

Q: You talked about balance issues. Did they appear during the development process or were they always there?
Max Verstappen: In the first races there were none. Something in the car made it more difficult to drive. And now it is very difficult to find the reason. This affects our results, both on a fast lap and on a long run.

Q: Helmut Marko finds this result alarming for Red Bull and says something must be done quickly, otherwise both championships are in jeopardy.
Max Verstappen: I think the weekend in Zandvoort just didn’t go well and the previous stages weren’t great. But don’t panic. We’re trying to improve the situation. We’re working on it.

Q: Since the end of 2020 you haven’t had such a long period without wins…
Max Verstappen: Yes, this happens in racing. But you can also look at it the other way: some drivers have not won any races at all.

Yeah, at the moment we don’t have the fastest car and we have some issues. We are working to solve them. That’s all I can say. There are still a lot of races ahead, a lot of different tracks. This weekend was just not the best.