Max Verstappen raises ‘question mark’ over Red Bull’s chances of winning Las Vegas GP
After qualifying P5 for the Las Vegas GP, Max Verstappen seemed weary of the chances of Red Bull climbing up the field on raceday.
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Max Verstappen, Christian Horner and Helmut Marko (via BILD)
Though Max Verstappen was able to outqualify his championship rival Lando Norris for the Las Vegas GP, the Dutchman managed only a P5 finish. Observing the troubling nature of the RB20, he asserted that the chance of winning the Las Vegas GP for Red Bull remained a big question mark.
George Russell bagged the pole position for the Las Vegas GP in an extremely close qualifying session. With the Ferrari pair looking feisty behind, a titanic battle might take place during the Grand Prix. On the other end of the spectrum, Max Verstappen qualified almost half a second slower than the pole-sitter and does not appear to be in the groove owing to the woeful RB20 throwing tantrums at him.
Also, Red Bull had reportedly brought the wrong spec rear wing for the race in the US. This might be the root cause for Verstappen’s problems, which he expected to not magically disappear for the race on Saturday.
I think tomorrow the wing hopefully will be a little bit more normal because you don’t use DRS every lap. It’s a bit of a question mark, how the tyres are going to behave, at least on my side, both of my long runs were not particularly great. We’ll see tomorrow.
Max Verstappen said on F1 TV
???️ | Max says it's a question mark over tyre behaviours tomorrow
— RBR News ???? (@redbulletin) November 23, 2024
"I think tomorrow the wing hopefully will be a little bit more normal because you don't use DRS every lap.
It's a bit of a question mark, how the tyres are going to behave, at least for my side, both of my long… pic.twitter.com/c81q4yFHpf
Despite the issues of the RB20, Verstappen would start ahead of Lando Norris for the Grand Prix. Moreover, if he finishes the race in the same position, then he will be crowned the world champion of the 2024 season. Thus, decreasing the pressure on the Austrian outfit amidst its rivals’ superior pace.
A difficult outing for Red Bull in the Las Vegas Grand Prix?
While the reigning champion was able to drag the car up to P5, his teammate Sergio Perez got knocked out in Q1. This marked the sixth time this year that the Mexican was unable to make it to the second round of qualifying.
Subsequently, Perez’s complaints resounded Verstappen’s statements which pointed towards the Red Bull having a major underlying issue. This caused the Red Bull pair to suffer an underwhelming qualifying session from their own perspective.
I think we’ve got a fundamental issue at the moment with the car that is just not working for me. We come to the weekends and we just explore a lot of things – it’s just a difficult one to make it work.
Sergio Perez told F1
With Perez starting outside the top 10, there is a minimal chance that the 34-year-old would be able to make his way through the field owing to his recent race trends. Thus, Red Bull’s late charge to get back on top of the constructor’s championship might be destined to stall again, amidst Ferrari’s projected outcome for the Las Vegas GP.
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Geetansh Pasricha
(772 Articles Published)