Since moving up to Red Bull at the start of the 2016 season, winning his first race on his first appearance for the energy drink team at the Spanish GP that same year, reigning Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen has earned the position of “first driver” in the team.
So far, none of the drivers who have shared a garage with the Dutchman have been able to get close enough to his overall performance. Because of this, it has always been said that Red Bull cars are made especially for Verstappen ‘s driving.
However, with a new era in F1 beginning in 2022, the Red Bull driver, who has shown he can still contend with championship leader Charles Leclerc, has encountered more trouble than usual when it comes to feel comfortable behind the wheel of the RB18, while his team-mate, Sergio Pérez, seems to be doing better with the car’s current set-up.
The Austrian outfit’s chief adviser, the ever-controversial Helmut Marko , explained that this is partly due to the nature of the new technical regulations, which have created cars that simply don’t suit Verstappen ‘s “aggressive” style of driving.
“Checo is much closer to Max than in 2021. The simplest explanation for this is that the new cars have less downforce and fit some drivers better than others.
“Perez is very happy with the car set-up at the moment, while it’s getting a bit more difficult for Max to drive. He still hasn’t found the balance he wants and for this reason he still doesn’t have all the confidence that we both would want when he’s driving the car. car”.
“His more aggressive driving style doesn’t quite fit the new cars,” Marko concluded.
In addition to that problem, Max Verstappen has been seriously affected by the reliability problems of the RB18 at the start of the season, as he has been forced to retire in two of the three races held to date, crossing the finish line only in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, which he also won by a difference of 0.549s compared to Leclerc .
As a result, the Dutch driver has only managed to score 25 points, which places him in sixth position in the drivers’ standings, 46 units behind the Monegasque Scuderia Ferrari driver, a position much further behind than expected before starting the course.
