Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton (left) and George Russell lift Joseph McMillan, the team’s lead race strategist, in Belgium. Hamilton was promoted to first place after race officials disqualified Russell for driving an underweight car. — AFP
AFTER Max Verstappen won four of the opening five Grands Prix this season, it appeared that he and Red Bull would again dominate.
Last year, Red Bull and Verstappen rewrote the record books, defending their constructors’ and drivers’ titles. He also set the record for most wins in a season, 19 of 22 races.
Following his fourth victory this year in the fifth race, in China, Verstappen ominously said that his car was “on rails” and that he “could do whatever I wanted to with it.”
Since that race, the picture has changed. He has won three of eight Grands Prix. He has not won the last four, his longest winless drought since 2021, and there have been seven different winners.
Over the team radio during the race in Hungary, where he was fifth, Verstappen criticised the car and the strategy.
He defended his anger, saying if people did not like his messages then “they can go home.”
Christian Horner, the team principal, said Red Bull was still trying to develop the car but was faced with “diminishing returns.”
That has allowed McLaren and Mercedes to challenge Red Bull and Verstappen. He is 78 points ahead of Lando Norris of McLaren in the drivers’ championship. In the constructors’ standings, Red Bull’s lead is 42 ahead of McLaren.
Since the Miami Grand Prix, in May, the results of Verstappen’s teammate, Sergio Perez, have fallen. He has scored only 21 points in the last seven races, affecting the team’s chances of retaining their constructors’ title.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri celebrates on the podium again after finishing second in Belgium. The Australian won the Hungarian GP on July 21. — Reuters
Although Perez signed a contract extension in June, Horner said the driver was “under pressure, and when you are under-delivering that pressure only mounts.”
“He knows it is unsustainable to not be scoring points,” he continued.
Before the Hungarian Grand Prix, Helmut Marko, an adviser to Red Bull, said the team would “evaluate the situation” with Perez during the summer break.
Perez said that he could not let his future “be a distraction,” and that he needed to “focus and work with the team to get out of this difficult period.”
With Perez struggling, McLaren are Red Bull’s nearest challenger and Norris is Verstappen’s main rival.
Norris won his first Grand Prix, in Miami, in his fifth season with the team. He has finished second five times, including in Hungary, where his teammate Oscar Piastri also won his first Grand Prix.
At last week’s Belgian GP, Piastri came in second behind Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton. Verstappen finished fourth.
In Austria in June, Norris and Verstappen collided when duelling for the lead. Norris was forced out of the race, and Verstappen finished fifth. Although there were some hard feelings between the friends, they cleared the air.
“Max has a very different way of racing compared to others, and that’s one of the reasons why he’s a champion,” Norris said.
“It’s clear how he races. It’s tough. It’s on the limit. It’s what we love, it’s what I love.”
Verstappen said his only consideration after the incident was “maintaining my relationship with Lando because we are great friends.”
“After letting things cool down because emotions run high, we came to the conclusion we really enjoyed our battle,” he said.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen steers his car during the Belgium GP. The Dutchman finished fourth. — AP
Norris has a strong teammate, Piastri, who was second in Monaco and Austria. Zak Brown, CEO of the team, said McLaren could challenge Red Bull for the constructors’ championship in the second half of the season.
“It’s going to be dependent upon Perez, at the end of the day, because you have to assume Max is going to be first, second or third at every race, and probably more first than thirds,” Brown said.
“Sergio underperforming is what has opened the window for us.
“If we have the same points gain we’ve had the last few races the balance of the year, we’d get the job done.”
Mercedes are again in the battle after their win in Belgium. Their drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton also won in Austria and England. For seven-time champion Hamilton, his victory at the British Grand Prix ended a 56-race drought. He also became the first driver to win one event on nine occasions.
Toto Wolff, the team principal, said Mercedes “are back” after two years of struggle in 2022 and 2023 to adapt to the aerodynamic regulations.
He said, “It clicked, and suddenly everything that didn’t make sense, made sense.
“It’s the result of our development direction. We’re finding performance, putting it on the car, and it is translating into lap time, which hadn’t been the case for the past two years.”
Ferrari, in the hunt after Charles Leclerc won his home race in Monaco in May, has fallen away over the last five races. He is in third place for the drivers’ title, 100 points behind Verstappen, and the team are 63 points behind Red Bull for the constructors’ championship.
Frederic Vasseur, the team principal, said the problem was aerodynamic and related to an upgrade introduced at the Spanish Grand Prix in June that did not work.
With 10 races remaining, the titles are on the line for Red Bull and Verstappen. He is demanding more.
“The last few weekends have been difficult,” he said. “It’s now up to us to find more performance.” — NYT
