Verstappen remains confident that RBR can improve kerb riding within this season
Max Verstappen admits that the Monaco GP was a “wake-up call” for his Red Bull Formula 1 team as the RB20’s weakness over bumps and kerbs was highlighted.
The Dutchman admits that the issue has been a characteristic of the team’s package since the start of the ground effect era in 2022, and that the increasing competitiveness of rivals has now exposed it.
Verstappen had a poor weekend in Monaco, qualifying and finishing sixth, and the Canadian GP could also be challenging for the team.
“This is something that we know is not our favourite thing in the world,” Verstappen said of the issue.
“But it’s something that we’re working on to try and make better. And this takes time. This is not something that is solved from one to the other week, but for sure, we’ll try to optimise things.
“It’s been a problem since day one of the new regulations. And this is something that we haven’t been able to fix it yet. I do think that after Monaco, it gave us another wake-up call. And yeah, we had a lot of good meetings, I think at the factory, and discussions. I feel like there’s a bit more focus on that now to try and improve that.
“Because I feel like of course with everyone catching up naturally you can’t rely on your advantage anymore, even though your kerb riding is bad, or whatever. So it definitely needs to be fixed.”
Verstappen admitted that it’s not easy to address such issues during a season, but he remains confident that it can be improved.
“It just takes a bit of time to really make, let’s say, big changes on the car, because some things are designed, and they might need to get redesigned or whatever,” he said. “You can’t do that with the budget cap within one or two weeks.”
“I still think that we can do a good job this year if everything works out. But at the moment we have to try a few thing, see what works best, and then for sure.
“I think maybe some things will be different next year that maybe are a bit more difficult to let’s say redesign this year, but I’m still hopeful and confident that we can do a better job already this year.
Asked if the Red Bull simulator doesn’t recreate bumps and kerns accurately enough he said: “Maybe on the simulator, they are probably too good. And yeah, it gives you a bit of a wrong idea of how to set up the car. But some tracks I think we do a better job than others.
“But honestly, I think if you ask everyone, that’s the same, it’s very hard to nail it all the time. But it’s still a good tool, I think. And it does help us, and we can try a lot of stuff on the simulator. But yeah, some tracks work a bit better than others.”
Verstappen says he’s paying no attention to suggestions that Ferrari and McLaren are now in the title fight.
“I just try to focus on what we have here,” he said. “I think we have plenty to work on. We knew that already. But naturally after Monaco I think we have a good direction to work in. And that’s actually quite exciting.
“I’m not focused on what the others are doing, because it’s just a waste of time and energy. And we know that from our side, there are things that we can do better, and that’s what we’ll focus on.
“And I’m sure that if we do those things well we still have a very, very strong team.”
Adam Cooper F1 