Remember the 2023 season where Max Verstappen took the pole, led into the first corner, and then finished the race a postcode ahead of P2? 2024 seemed to have started on the same note, but Ferrari and McLaren decided that they wouldn’t let 2023 repeat itself in the F1 world. However, partial credit for the recent Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc wins goes to Red Bull and their problems. Helmut Marko has come to reveal what the problems were at the Monaco GP while also firing a warning the Dutchman’s way for the Canadian GP.

Max Verstappen and the RB20 don’t seem to get along the same way he did with the RB19. The car seems to be on the knife’s edge, and in the last three races, the championship leader seems to be fighting the car for grip. Grip and balance were the issues faced by the Dutchman in Miami and Imola, but Monaco brought another set of problems, namely, riding the kerbs.

Max Verstappen was on the radio throughout the practice sessions, complaining about the car being too stiff and jumping around like a kangaroo. The Dutchman also got a headache because of all the jumping, courtesy of the bumpy nature of the Monaco track. Riding the kerbs is essential at Monaco to find the lap time as it provides the optimal line through the corner. One loses major chunks of time if the kerbs aren’t ridden.

Helmut Marko has now come out to reveal that their simulator showed that the car would be fine over the kerbs, whereas that wasn’t the case. He also explained how this was the problem that they faced in Singapore last year, where Carlos Sainz took the only non-Red Bull win of the year. As Marko explained the problem on Speedweek, he wrote, “The problem begins in the simulator, which has signaled that the car goes well over the curbs. Simply put, this means that the simulator and reality do not correlate.”

He continued “And Monaco was not the first racetrack where we had this problem, which was relatively strong in Singapore for the first time. The simulator spat out something that did not correspond to reality. This is the first point we will start at.” Warning Verstappen and the team about the possibility of a similar situation for Canada, he added, “ We are optimistic that we can find out at least once why the simulator produces such data that does not correspond to reality. But Montreal could also be a difficult weekend for us.” Regardless of Helmut Marko’s Canadian GP warning, it seems like Max Verstappen already has an idea of the tracks that the RB20 might struggle at because of their characteristics.

Max Verstappen on RB20’s Up And Down Performance: “Some tracks just really don’t suit our car”

Street Circuits really seem to be Red Bull’s Achilles Heel at the moment. Albert Park, Miami International Circuit, and now Monaco. All the races not won by Red Bull have been tracks that are characterized as Street Circuits. The upcoming Canadian GP is at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, which is another street circuit. And just like Monaco, the Canadian GP circuit has loads of chicanes, which need to be ridden to find the precious time. Max Verstappen seems to know where the weakness of RB20 lies, as he expects to be weak at some tracks on the calendar.

Speaking about the RB20’s poor form around Monaco, Max Verstappen said, “We know that some tracks just really don’t suit our car at the moment. Some tracks that are still upcoming won’t really be that good for us, but then also some tracks will be better for us. We know… I think the positive thing out of this weekend is that it really highlighted our weakness, and that’s what we have to work on.”

Do you think Red Bull can fight back and upgrade the RB20 to get rid of, or at least subdue its weaknesses? Share your thoughts in the comments below.