The past two F1 race weekends have seen Red Bull sound the alarm about their title chances: Lando Norris's dominant victory at the Dutch Grand Prix, followed by struggles from Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez at the Italian Grand Prix, saw McLaren cut Red Bull's lead in the constructors' championship to single digits.
And Charles Leclerc's victory at Monza means Ferrari are back in the mix for a race that team principal Frédéric Vasseur believes will be “a big battle at the very end”.
Red Bull are urgently seeking answers as to the cause of the RB20's slump, and according to senior advisor Dr Helmut Marko, the upcoming United States Grand Prix in Austin could be a key moment in that quest. With the next two races on street circuits, first the Azerbaijan Grand Prix followed by the Singapore Grand Prix, the Circuit of the Americas track will be crucial for Red Bull to hold off a hotly pursued McLaren and also secure pole position for Verstappen in the drivers' championship battle with Norris.
“We are doing tyre testing with Liam Lawson at Monza and at the same time our staff will be analysing where we need to make adjustments. We need to find where we have gone wrong in development.” Marko told Austrian media: OE24“We have already made some conclusive discoveries and now we need to quickly implement the corresponding technical changes so that the car's balance is right again. The next two races on the street circuits of Baku and Singapore will not be very informative in this respect. In Austin we will see whether we can achieve a turnaround.”
Marko also continued to question whether Verstappen can hold off Norris in the drivers' championship battle. Verstappen currently holds a 62-point lead over rivals McLaren with eight race weekends remaining, but Norris has a good chance of closing the gap when you factor in the three extra F1 sprint races.
Especially when Red Bull can't find the answers it needs.
“Oh, if we [Verstappen] “If we can build a driveable car and perform like that a few more times then anything is possible,” Marko added.
