Peter Windsor points to problem on Max Verstappen’s car after ‘odd’ Azerbaijan GP

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Max Verstappen has endured his worst run of races since the beginning of the 2022 season, as he deals with problems on his Red Bull.

The Dutchman appeared to be off the pace compared to teammate Sergio Perez throughout the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend, having been out-qualified by three-tenths by his teammate and over half a second from Charles Leclerc.

Things did not improve in the race when Verstappen complained about the balance of his car and the lack of “bite” at the front, while he also noted that he lacked rear grip in his Red Bull.

Verstappen has not won a race since the Spanish GP in June and has seen his lead in the Drivers’ Championship cut to just 59 points.

Discussing the Dutchman’s weekend on his YouTube channel, Peter Windsor highlighted the problem Verstappen faced as he struggles to replicate the win margins he had earlier in the season.

Peter Windsor says Max Verstappen had brake problems

Verstappen finished the race in fifth owing to a late crash between teammate Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz, but at the time he was only able to manage seventh place.

Title rival Lando Norris fought his way up the field from 15th on the grid after a shock early exit in qualifying and managed to finish ahead of him, despite pitting for a second stop in the closing stages of the race.

Windsor believes Verstappen was having to manage a problem in his car, which would explain the deficit to Perez throughout the weekend.

“There were some things wrong with Verstappen’s car that were clearly there on Friday and Saturday, particularly the bouncing at the rear and the brake issue,” said Windsor.

“But it’s odd that Max is having such a bad run at the moment and he’s just so uncompetitive with his major rivals, even with his non-major rivals. Verstappen is usually a billion miles into the sunset with Red Bull, but he’s not anymore.”

Red Bull no longer focused on Constructors’ Championship

After Perez collided with Sainz in an incident that Jolyon Palmer felt was predominantly the Mexican’s fault, it enabled McLaren to score more points.

Heading into the Baku weekend, Red Bull was eight points ahead of McLaren. Now they exit it with a 20-point deficit and face having to claw it back in the final seven races or lose millions of pounds in prize money.

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Helmut Marko has admitted that Red Bull is no longer focused on the Constructors’ Championship, given they have issues to resolve on track.

The team has an update arriving at the US GP that could put them back on track for the remainder of the season, but it is now turning into a case of damage limitation for Verstappen.