Red Bull aren’t ‘capable’ of meeting one of Max Verstappen’s car demands despite having 29 attempts

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Max Verstappen finished ninth at the Hungarian Grand Prix last weekend, which meant he entered the summer break on the back of his poorest result of the season. In fact, it was his worst showing since the same event in 2021.

Red Bull feel their Budapest woes will be a one-off, but their meagre two-point return (Yuki Tsunoda was down in 17th in the other car) saw them lose further ground to the top three teams. The gap to Mercedes directly ahead is 40 points.

With Verstappen scoring almost all of the team’s points, it’s looking increasingly likely that Red Bull will finish fourth in the constructors’, their lowest position since 2015. It will only be the second time since 2008 that they’ve placed so far down.

Verstappen is third in the drivers’, albeit nearly 100 points off leader Oscar Piastri, but Red Bull’s decline has been fairly stark. Between the start of the 2022 season and last year’s Spanish GP, they won 46 out of 55 races; they’ve only taken victory in four of the 28 since.

Red Bull top F1 upgrade leaderboard – but are they making progress?

In light of the team’s trajectory, it’s surprising to learn, via Auto Motor und Sport, that Red Bull have made more upgrades than their fellow front-runners this year. They have introduced 14 new parts designed to improve performance.

What’s more, there have been 29 changes to the car’s aerodynamic details since the start of the season. That’s more than McLaren (24), Ferrari (22) and Mercedes (14).

Verstappen said recently that, with a view to next year, Red Bull ‘have to show that we are capable of improving the car’. One could argue that, over the last year, they haven’t been able to do so in a meaningful way.

Clearly, the Bulls have made their car faster, otherwise they’d regularly be falling into the clutches of the midfield teams and completely losing touch with their traditional competitors. But what matters in F1 is relative progress.

Red Bull have talked up several major upgrade packages since McLaren overtook them, but it’s fair to conclude that none of them have corrected the team’s worrying trajectory. And development for this year is thought to be complete.

Red Bull’s technical director coming under pressure from Max Verstappen’s camp

One could speculate that Red Bull are missing Adrian Newey, which wouldn’t be a surprise given his formidable track record. Newey has been drawing up Aston Martin’s 2026 car instead after his headline-grabbing departure last year.

The onus is on technical director Pierre Wache and his team to prove that they are worthy successors. Former team principal Christian Horner put his faith in the Frenchman by promoting from within.

• READ MORE: Max Verstappen’s camp surprised by ‘strange’ statement from Red Bull chief who ‘doesn’t know’ what he’s doing

One journalist revealed this week that Wache is under mounting internal pressure amid the underwhelming development results. Verstappen and his camp have made their frustration clear.

Sky Germany pundit Ralf Schumacher has no confidence in Wache. He thinks that the seismic firing of Horner won’t ‘change anything’ if the technical department don’t start delivering.

In the 50-year-old’s defence, neither Mercedes nor Ferrari have been able to put consistent pressure on McLaren this year after their own upgrades. But it’s also clear that they’ve outdeveloped Red Bull considerably since the start of last year.