Max Verstappen highlights ‘big area where we can improve’ despite F1 2023 masterclass

Max Verstappen is eager to see a key area of weakness addressed on Red Bull’s RB20 to improve further on the dominant 2023 car.

While the RB19 may have won every race bar one in 2023, Max Verstappen has identified some areas of weakness that he’d like fixed for the RB20 when the next offering from Red Bull is rolled out.

While the RB19 became the sport’s most dominant car ever, eclipsing McLaren’s MP4/4 from 1988 based on win percentage, Verstappen said there are still plenty of areas that could be improved.

Max Verstappen: Red Bull know the weaknesses in the car

Having got started with development for 2024 at an early stage this year as the team enjoyed a huge performance advantage over the rest of the field, at least in Verstappen’s hands, the Dutch driver said a key aim for next year is to make the strengths even better while fixing some of the weaknesses.

“It’s difficult to tell but, of course, we are also working on our car to try and make it better,” he said.

“I think we know our weaknesses as well in the car and that’s what we’ll try to work on plus, of course, trying to make our strengths even stronger.”

Pointed out to him that there might not be too many weaknesses, given the car was undefeated bar one race, Verstappen said it was the loss in Singapore that highlighted the areas of improvement Red Bull need to find.

“Of course there are [weaknesses],” he said.

“Look at our race weekend in Singapore. In general, on street circuits, I think we are struggling a bit more, like in Vegas also.

“Low-speed is definitely not our strongest point in the car, [going over] bumps, kerbs as well, so that’s definitely a big area where we can improve.”

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However, while the RB19 may not have been absolutely perfect in Verstappen’s eyes, the Dutch driver was also eager to point out the good aspects of the car over the 2022 RB18 with which he also romped to the title.

“I think the car is quite predictable in terms of when we try things, when we do a different set of changes compared to last year,” he explained.

“It really sometimes was very good but, sometimes, it was also like we were a bit lost with the setup and it feels like this car was just easier to get on top of as well.

“In the race, especially, I think it was a bit better on tyres, and that made our life a lot easier.”

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