Set-up “gamble” costs Verstappen the Dutch GP
Christian Horner believes differences in the setup of the two Red Bull cars affected Max Verstappen’s performance at the Dutch Grand Prix.
Verstappen finished 16 seconds ahead of teammate Sergio Perez, but 22 seconds behind race winner Lando Norris. Horner said the team had hoped to challenge for the win after Verstappen took the lead at the start, but said the higher downforce of their lead car ultimately hampered him.
“When you take the lead, you suddenly think: OK. And he managed to break through the DRS. But then it was quite clear that Lando was suddenly catching up pretty hard from lap five or six,” Horner told Viaplay. “And we just didn’t have the pace we needed today.”
“In hindsight, I think our risk with more downforce was perhaps not the best solution. Looking at Checo’s pace, it looked like it was easier for him in the second half of the race.”
“But congratulations to Lando and McLaren, they were very fast today. We still have to work on getting faster.”
Verstappen was unhappy with the handling of his car from the start of the race. “The whole weekend was the same,” he said. “I had practically the same balance from FP1 to the race.”
“The restrictions are the same. It’s just very difficult to resolve them at the moment.”
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He was the only rider in the field to take two new sets of hard tyres into the race. “It seems like we’re too slow at the moment, but also pretty bad in terms of grade,” he explained. “It’s a bit strange because I think in recent years we’ve usually been pretty good with them.”
“So something has gone wrong with the car recently that we need to understand and of course we need to try and improve quickly.”
Despite leading for the first 17 laps, Verstappen said it soon became clear he could not keep Norris at bay.
“I was just driving my own race, taking care of the tires and trying to do my best,” he said. “But at some point nothing was turning or responding anymore.”
“Then Lando came pretty close. He was close the first time, but not close enough. Then I couldn’t do anything on the next lap.
“After he was over, I just focused on my race and tried to finish second.”
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Dutch Grand Prix 2024
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