Max Verstappen and Red Bull in dire need to bounce back after dismal Dutch GP

Max Verstappen and Red Bull need to get back to winning ways after disappointing results in the past five races.

Max Verstappen, Helmut Marko and Christian Horner (via IMAGO)

Max Verstappen and Red Bull were the favorites for the 2024 title at the start of the season. The reigning world champion even won seven of the first ten races this year. However, Verstappen now faces a real challenge from Lando Norris for the world championship.

The 2024 season has been full of turmoil for Red Bull Racing. However, Milton Keynes was managing to keep its act clean on-track. Now, it seems that the Austrian team has lost the massive pace advantage it enjoyed during Verstappen’s historic 2023 campaign.

The Historical Problem of Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen has remained supportive over Red Bull’s recent struggles. Although, the Dutch driver has accepted that the team has work to do if it wants to bounce back after Lando Norris’ dominant victory in Zandvoort. It seems that it might be now or never for Milton Keynes to get back to winning ways.

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Red Bull needs to get its act together again

Red Bull managed to out-develop the entire grid at the start of the ground-effect era. Subsequently, Max Verstappen dominated the past two seasons with a stellar record. However, the RB20 has not lived up to expectations as the team took a more radical approach.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen, Christian Horner and Helmut Marko (via IMAGO) — Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, Christian Horner and Helmut Marko (via IMAGO)

This in turn allowed rivals, McLaren and Mercedes to catch up and win three races each so far, with Ferrari bagging two victories. Moreover, Adrian Newey’s exit seems to have impacted Red Bull as its latest set of upgrades made the situation worse for Verstappen and Perez.

With nine races to go, Max Verstappen enjoys a healthy lead to Norris. However, the reigning world champion will need to maximize results at every weekend to ensure he wins his fourth title in a row. While Lando Norris and McLaren are in a much better position to win races. The Woking-based team even targets a nine-race win streak for the end of the year.

Certainly, Max Verstappen did not expect to find himself winless in the last five races. However, the Dutch driver has no choice but to keep his foot down and deliver. Verstappen would be hoping that Red Bull can solve its recent issues and provide him with a race-winning car this weekend.

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Tags: Christian Horner Dutch GP Italian GP Lando Norris Max Verstappen

#About the Author

Armaan Agarwal

(1984 Articles Published)

Armaan Agarwal is a Formula 1 Subhead and author at Firstsportz. He has been a Motorsports writer for over six years a journey that started in 2017 with his own F1 blog. Armaan has been part of the Firstsportz for over a year and has published more than 1000 articles. His experience, passion for racing, and in-depth knowledge of the sport enable him to give racing fans worldwide a unique perspective of the sport. Armaan has always loved cars and it was Sebastian Vettel that made him a passionate F1 fan. Armaan is presently studying Mass Communication at St Xavier's University Kolkata.