19:18 Max Verstappen has stated after qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix that the Red Bull-Honda RB16 is simply ‘not a very fast car’. The Dutchman is struggling this weekend at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza with the balance of the car and as a result with a lack of grip, which means he has to make do with the fifth place on Sunday.
Traditionally, the very fast Monza circuit is not the strongest track for Red Bull, given the importance of good top speed and the fact that the Milton Keynes team has not had the best engine on the field for some time. But this year, the nine-time Grand Prix winner in Italy is also slowed down by the car. A year ago he was in better shape: Verstappen had to start from the back due to grid penalties, but still finished eighth in the race, despite having to go straight to the pits after the first lap for a new front wing.
“That is simply because this year’s car is not good enough and last year’s was not that bad after all,” Verstappen told, among others. GPUpdate.net about the fact that 2020 is not going as well in Monza than in 2019. “Of course we have adjusted quite a few things to the car for this year, and we had some problems with that at the beginning, as was clearly visible . ” The fact that Pierre Gasly was not even that much slower with the AlphaTauri on Saturday than Verstappen in qualifying, is even more proof for the Limburger that the Red Bull of 2020 is not a top car. “Look how close AlphaTauri is to us. Of course no disrespect to Pierre, but if he is three tenths behind me with that car, well, I know enough,” said Verstappen.
According to him, it is not due to the ban on ‘party mode’ that came into effect this weekend. “No, to be honest, I don’t think we have deteriorated”, says Verstappen, who is willing to wait a while with his final judgment. “Monza is a bit of a separate circuit anyway, as everyone is looking for a slipstream. So we have to wait until we go to a normal circuit before we can say more about that. But beyond that we just don’t have a good balance in the car. If you already fall short with the car compared to Mercedes and you don’t even have a good balance, then it ends. And if you also fall short on the straight, then it stops completely. ” Verstappen said earlier that he did not expect Mercedes to suffer much from the ban on ‘party mode’. “I did not expect that they would suddenly give up four tenths. After all, they often did not even go full in the races. They always had some margin. And they use that now. You can see that it [verbod op de kwalificatiemodus] doesn’t really matter much. “
Or is it frustrating that both the Red Bull car and the Honda engine are not yet good enough to go for the top prize, after the team leadership was still confident last winter that the world title could be fought for this year? “Every weekend I just try to do the best I can. Everyone can of course say what they want, but I learned at a very young age that you can be realistic with it. That may sound a bit depressing, but for me it works well. had expected it to be very difficult and of course never had the expectation that we would fight Mercedes here. We had to wait and see how our car would fare with little downforce, but I think it only has the problems we all season. The bottom line is that we just don’t have a very fast car. “
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