Verstappen asks for more grip on the front end of his Red Bull

The change in F1’s rules for this year regarding ground effect led to a readjustment in terms of how to drive the single-seaters. Being heavier and running much lower to the ground, they are more prone to understeer .

Verstappen is known to shine brightest with a car that can be aggressive when cornering, as he is able to overcome any weakness at the rear. Earlier this week, Red Bull’s Helmut Marko admitted that Verstappen was looking for improvements.

“Let’s put it this way: the car is still not what Max would like it to be,” he told Motorsport.com’s sister website Formel1.de . “It needs a very strong front end. The thing about the rear, where everyone gets nervous at 250kph, Max doesn’t even notice. Our car is more neutral, maybe a bit more gentle in that sense. And that’s something he doesn’t like.”

Asked by Motorsport.com ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix if he was looking at changes to the car to make the front end stronger, Verstappen explained that he was pushing for adjustments, but the situation was not as dramatic as some suggest.

“I certainly see, of course, that Checo is a little bit more comfortable than last year,” he said. “For my part, yes, I would like a little more forward, we are working on that.”

“I’m not saying I’m uncomfortable in the car, but these cars are so heavy and long and wide that, with the weight gain as well, you want a car that turns better, because it just goes faster in the corners.

“That means you can get a little bit more out of qualifying when you really push, which I can’t do at the moment.”

“But it’s not all that dramatic. I mean, I’ve won four races. It’s more than I had achieved last year at this time. So it’s not that bad. It’s just fine-tuning little things,” Max Verstappen concluded.

Haas driver Kevin Magnussen, who returned to F1 this season after a two-year absence, backed Verstappen’s view that the 2022 F1 generation suffers from more understeer than in previous seasons.

“I agree with Max that the cars have more mid-corner understeer,” he said. “The car doesn’t want to turn as well as old cars.”