Red Bull's gamble with Max Verstappen has backfired spectacularly, leaving them to face a painful reality. The team, led by Laurent Mekies, openly admits they paid a heavy price for taking risks with Verstappen's car during the São Paulo Grand Prix. But what exactly went wrong? And what does this mean for Verstappen's championship hopes? Let's dive in.
Verstappen entered the São Paulo race with high hopes, aiming to close the gap to McLaren's Lando Norris in the drivers' standings. He was only 36 points behind, with Oscar Piastri hot on his heels. However, the weekend quickly turned into a nightmare for the Dutchman.
Verstappen struggled with the RB21, primarily citing a lack of grip around the Interlagos circuit. He even went so far as to describe his car as "completely broken" and "undriveable" after the second qualifying session for the sprint race. Despite salvaging fourth place in the sprint race, hopes for a better qualifying performance in the Grand Prix were dashed.
And this is the part most people miss... For only the second time in his 229-race F1 career, Verstappen failed to make it out of Q1 on pure pace. The other instance was during the 2017 Chinese Grand Prix. He'll start the race in a dismal 16th place on the grid, three places ahead of his teammate, Yuki Tsunoda. This marks the first time in 19 years, since the 2006 Japanese Grand Prix, that Red Bull has failed to get a car out of Q1.
"Nobody expected something like that," Mekies admitted to Sky Sports F1. He explained that the team had been unhappy with the car throughout the practice sessions, sprint qualifying, and the sprint race. They took risks before qualifying to try to improve the car's performance, but unfortunately, it backfired.
But here's where it gets controversial... Mekies confirmed that the team "did significantly change the car" out of necessity. Red Bull even experimented with Yuki Tsunoda's car during the sprint race, using a higher downforce rear wing to try and improve grip. The changes didn't work, so they tried a different setup with Verstappen for qualifying, which proved to be a spectacular failure.
"That's the sort of risk you have to take if you want to give yourself a chance to put the car back in a window where it could fight for something bigger than where we were this morning," Mekies stated. He acknowledged the painful outcome but emphasized the importance of learning from the experience.
What do you think? Do you believe Red Bull's approach was too risky? Or was it a necessary gamble to try and gain an advantage? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
