Red Bull weak spots identified by Max Verstappen as rivals prepare 2024 assault

Mark Scott 29 Dec 2023 9:00 AM

Red Bull mechanics apply the finishing touches to Max Verstappen's Red Bull car in São Paulo.

Max Verstappen in the Red Bull RB19 that won the 2023 titles.

Max Verstappen has picked out clear areas of improvement for Red Bull to address despite near total domination in the F1 2023 season.

Red Bull won all but one of the 22 races on last season’s calendar, Verstappen himself winning a mere 19 of them as he waltzed towards a third consecutive World Championship title.

But, it is that one race that got away in 2023 – the Singapore Grand Prix won by Carlos Sainz – that is at centre of Verstappen’s attention.

Max Verstappen: Still room for improvement at Red Bull

In an exclusive interview with Motorsport.com, Verstappen was asked for his thoughts on where he felt his mighty Red Bull team could improve for next season. His answer was straight to the point.

“Mainly I think just street circuits and low-speed, kerbing,” Verstappen said.

“These kind of things, I think we are not the best at the moment.”

Those comments were then passed on to Red Bull’s technical director Pierre Wache, who revealed the team were in agreement with Verstappen’s observations.

“The team sees that same weakness, maybe in a different perspective than Max because Max is [a driver], but it’s more or less summarised quite well where we have to work for next year,” said Wache.

“Low-speed is clearly one area. 90-degree corners we are not the best, as you could see in quali in Baku and a different track. Singapore also was not a fantastic one.

“And also, our capacity to ride the kerbs and the bumpy tracks is also not perfect and we have to improve this area.

“In our system and in this business, you never have nothing for free.

“You can improve the overall potential of something, but most of the time it’s also affecting some other aspect of the car.

“We have to be very careful not to destroy what we built in terms of strengths. It’s what we are trying to do: improve our weaknesses without compromising too much the strengths we have.”

Christian Horner braced for tougher F1 2024 fight

Those marginal gains identified could be crucial in in Red Bull’s pursuit of even more World Championship silverware in 2024, with team boss Christian Horner telling PlanetF1.com that it feels “inevitable” that the chasing pack will start to close up on them.

“We’ve got stable regulations,” he said, when asked if Red Bull have found another big step with the RB20.

“And so, of course, you start to hit the top of the curve where the gains that you’re making become smaller and smaller. I think that it’s evolution, not revolution.

“We’re into diminishing returns now. But there are two more years of these regulations.

“It’s inevitable that the grid will concertina.”