Oscar Piastri has been baffling in terms of declines in form in recent weeks as the Australian struggled in both COTA and Mexico City.
Answers were found, even if he didn’t quite do what he wanted during the first part of the weekend in Sao Paulo. But now it’s another championship contender who has had an alarming slump, and the finger is being pointed much more at the team than at the driver.
Max Verstappen’s struggles in Mexico City were perhaps overshadowed by Piastri’s form and the Dutchman’s ability to salvage a third-place finish. In Brazil, however, there was no escape as a disappointing Sprint qualifying and a fourth-place finish in the Sprint race were followed by a dramatic Q1 exit.
It is Verstappen’s first Q1 elimination on pure pace in his entire Formula 1 career. Of the six previous times he has dropped out in Q1, looming power unit fines or grid drops have been a factor to consider, but not on Saturday at Interlagos.
Last year Verstappen started from 16th position – 17th on the grid but because Lance Stroll did not start – Verstappen had a great drive to win. On that occasion the Red Bull was competitive in all conditions and had simply been unlucky with the timing of a red flag in Q2. This time there is no such silver lining.
“First of all, we have to understand what our problems are. It was just not good,” Verstappen said after qualifying. “It seems like we don’t really understand why things are happening this way.
“Just no grip. We changed a few things on the car and it didn’t work – something we have to figure out… Nothing seems to work. We’ve changed a lot on the car. We just don’t understand it.”
“Comparable [feeling to Mexico] I would say, but something is just not working in our car at the moment.”
After such an impressive run of form in which Red Bull seemed to overcome the issues that plagued the entire season, it is a shock to see such a turnaround. Not that McLaren is strong is surprising, but the clear direction in which Laurent Mekies’ team is working has since disappeared.
One explanation for the change of pace in recent months: upgrades.
The difficulties in Mexico City and Sao Paulo coincide with the introduction of yet another new floor from Red Bull. As previous struggles have shown, continuing to develop and add performance to these cars is extremely difficult, and introducing new components is never a guarantee. The latter could be a cause.
Despite the belief that the new floor would provide an improvement if the team could get it working, struggles in the first part of the weekend saw Verstappen revert to the previous specification for qualifying, but performance against the rest of the field was even worse.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. Maybe leave the gloomy grid position to make big changes and start from the pit lane on Sunday? It could happen. Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images
“Something is clearly not working for us. Normally you feel a certain reaction when there are changes in the line-up, but that is not the case.” [feel that way]so something is just not right.”
A key factor in Red Bull’s recent form is the understanding of how to improve the car over a weekend and make the RB21 respond to changes. Without that, Verstappen and Red Bull are faced with a familiar scenario where they have to take significant tuning gambles to get the car to life.
Red Bull is in 16th place and has no realistic prospect of progressing further with the machines at its disposal. Red Bull could well take the car out of Parc Ferme and start from the pit lane, allowing the team to once again completely change its component lineup and specifications in its search for answers. That would also provide the opportunity to take a new power unit with little penalty – something the team tried to avoid but admitted would pose risks in the final three rounds.
It’s a Hail Mary, but Verstappen knows his championship hopes are all but gone.
“Where we start, that’s not going to work. By performances like this I mean forget it,” he said of his title chances.
With a championship to keep alive heading to Las Vegas to kick off the final triple header, Verstappen and Red Bull have nothing to lose by betting again overnight, but at this weekend’s shows so far the odds are stacked against them.
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