The Reason Behind Max Verstappen’s Notorious DRS Problem That Plagued His Red Bull F1 Challenger

Max Verstappen emulated his first win in F1 as he won the Spanish Grand Prix. But it wasn’t the smoothest race for the Dutchman. As evident during the race as well, Verstappen struggled with his DRS activation the entire weekend. The same DRS issue that led to Max screaming, “I have no power” during his last attempt in Q3.

The incident in the qualifying forced Red Bull to work on Verstappen’s RB-18 ahead of the race. Luckily for the team, the DRS activation component they changed did not warrant a penalty. However, the part replacement was not enough to eradicate the problem as it persisted during the race.

After the race, the Red Bull boss gave a probable explanation of the cause of the problem. The issue, he suggests, was because of their attempt to make the car lighter. “Obviously we’re trying to match every gram of performance, and weight also plays a role,” explained Horner.

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Since a more flexible and light wing is prone to damage, Horner criticized their solution to make the car faster. He added, “Maybe we were too ambitious there. We need to understand exactly what the problem is because we thought we had a solution. Unfortunately, it didn’t prove to be a reliable solution for the whole race.”

Max Verstappen counting his lucky stars

The spin at the start of the race at turn four and the DRS issues could not stop Max from winning the race. However, the Dutchman was frustrated by the DRS activation issue during the race. Especially during the stint where he could not pass a slower Mercedes W13 of George Russell.

And during the stint behind Russell, we could hear Max on the team radio complain about the DRS. As it would work in one DRS zone and not in the other. Because of this battle, the race leader Charles Leclerc had amassed a massive 20-second lead. But an unfortunate retirement for the Ferrari and a clever strategy helped Red Bull make the most of the Spanish GP. The Austrian Constructors now lead both the championships.

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Although this does not change the fact there is a DRS issue Red Bull needs to address as early as this weekend, as the circus travels to Monte Carlo for Monaco GP.