Marco: RB20 has a fundamental problem

In his column for Speedweek, Red Bull consultant Helmut Marko summarised the results of the Italian Grand Prix…

As the Monza weekend progressed, we realized that the RB20 had a serious, fundamental problem. The positive thing is that everyone is working together and at full speed to find a solution. After the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, there will be tire tests, maybe they will help us get back on track.

The car, which dominated the first races, became unpredictable and difficult to drive. This problem must be solved.

Max Verstappen finished second in the second part of qualifying at Monza, just behind Hamilton, but in the final the car had no grip on both sets of tyres. We explain such differences by the great sensitivity of the car to the smallest changes in temperature, rubber compound and the amount of fuel on board. And the balance disappears. Another part of the problem is the lack of correlation between data obtained in the wind tunnel and on the race track.

There is an opinion among fans that our failures are somehow connected with the departure of Adrian Newey. But this is not true. Newey stopped delving into all the details of the car’s development in the spring.

Newey is an engineer with incredible experience, but our problem lies elsewhere. The examples of Mercedes and, to a lesser extent, Ferrari, have shown that all teams have difficulties working with cars with ground effect. But I remain optimistic: we have a great technical team, we will be able to solve this problem.

The main question now is: how can we restore the good balance of the cars in the first part of the season? Max Verstappen said at Monza that he didn’t need 20 points more downforce if it would make the car uncontrollable. So we have to rebuild, get back to the number when the car was balanced. If it becomes predictable again, the drivers will feel confident.

Obviously this is not an easy task – since then we have delivered many new parts and we have to find out where we went wrong technically.

In Spa Mercedes had the best car, in Zandvoort – McLaren, Leclerc won in Monza in a Ferrari. Without changes in the balance of power we would not have the advantage we have today. But we cannot always rely on being ahead one weekend and the other the next. We must strive to be ahead through our own efforts.

The lead in the Constructors’ Championship was reduced to eight points. We cannot write off this title. If Max wins again, Sergio’s finish between third and fifth place will be enough to successfully defend this title.

A few words about RB’s performance in Monza. Yuki was not happy with the car and called it uncontrollable. The team still kept the new products to find out where they offer advantages and where they cause problems. After a collision with Hulkenberg, Tsunoda had to retire.

Daniel Ricciardo served his penalty incorrectly in the pit lane and was given an additional ten-second penalty on top of the initial five-second penalty, ruining our chances of scoring points.

After Zandvoort and Monza, the road course in Azerbaijan awaits us. We have always been competitive in Baku, but this time too the time balance is crucial. I hope we will be in better shape than in the final phase. If Verstappen gets a fast car, he will demonstrate his abilities again.