Why Red Bull's explanations for its struggles at Monza are worrying for the future

We were so not used to seeing Red Bull as much in difficulty as the 6th place acquired by Max Verstappen in Italy could almost seem shocking to us. In Monza, for the first time in a long time, the Austrian team was unable to fight for the podium, let alone for victory. A stinging defeat behind the Ferrari, McLaren et Mercedes and a helpless Max Verstappen at the wheel of his RB20, which regresses from weekend to weekend.

How did we get here at Red Bull? How, after dominating the first Grands Prix of the season with seven wins in the first ten rounds, the Austrian team finds itself fourth in the field in Italy? Explanations were obviously expected in the paddock at Monza, and explanations there were from Christian Horner. The British manager explained how the Temple of Speed ​​had "highlighted the gaps" of the RB20 compared to its predecessor, the RB19, which won 21 of the 22 Grands Prix organized in 2023.

“We have a disconnect in the balance [of the car] that just doesn’t work. As soon as you get into that situation, you’re more aggressive with the tires. You end up compensating, you shift the balance, you solve one problem and you create another. You end up in a vicious circle.”, recognizes the Red Bull Team Principal. I think it's been there for a while, and I think looking at the data, there were some issues earlier in the year with that feature. Others have obviously stepped up and the fact that we have dug deeper into our package has exposed the problem."

"Both (titles) are under absolute pressure" Red Bull concedes

Still according to Christian Horner, the RB20 remains a formidable car but whose operating window is much narrower than the other teams, with a disparity between the data from the wind tunnel and those observed on the circuit, which may explain the random performances of the Austrian machine during the last meetings. “Maybe we have gone too far in complexity and maybe we should simplify some things. When the car is in the (performance) window, it's performing as predicted or closer to the prediction. But that window is so small that that's what we have to work on. We have to widen its operating window."

With eight Grands Prix (and three Sprint races) left in the season, these explanations from Christian Horner are far from reassuring. The series of non-European races, work on the 2025 single-seater and restrictions in the wind tunnel and spending linked to the budget cap could prevent Red Bull from further developing the RB20 by the end of the season. Everything will be a question of survival in the fight for the two championships, believes the English manager. "Given the performance [at Monza], you could say that both (titles) are under absolute pressure. We were the fourth fastest car today and that's the reality. We have to turn things around."

And Max Verstappen in all this? Visibly annoyed this weekend at Monza by the lack of performance of his single-seater, the Dutchman remains nonetheless involved in the development work of the RB20 in order to find solutions. His lead in the championship is melting from Grand Prix to Grand Prix, with now 62 points ahead of Lando Norris. "He works with the engineers, he explains very clearly where the problems are, he puts time and effort into it, says Christian Horner. He was here early this morning, he's been on Zoom calls the last week, he'll be on the simulator before the next race and he's working really hard for it."

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