Red Bull haven’t ‘listened’ to Max Verstappen over key RB20 issue this season

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Max Verstappen was involved in a series of tense radio exchanges with his Red Bull team during the Hungarian Grand Prix last weekend. The Dutchman finished fifth, one of his poorest results of the season so far.

Verstappen had qualified third and remained there at the end of the first stint. But Lewis Hamilton gained track position after making an earlier stop.

The reigning world champion had fresher tyres but wasn’t able to find a way past the stern defence of the Mercedes driver. Much to Verstappen’s dismay, Red Bull allowed both Hamilton and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to execute another undercut later in the race.

The 26-year-old used a healthy tyre offset to pass Leclerc but subsequently made contact with Hamilton at turn one. Verstappen’s RB20 briefly launched into the air as he locked up in attempting the move.

The stewards investigated him for causing a collision but decided that it wasn’t worthy of a penalty. Verstappen had lost ground on track anyway, dropping back to P5.

He complained over the radio that Hamilton had moved under braking. But his engineer Gianpiero Lambiase expressed little interest in a ‘childish’ dispute with other teams.

Max Verstappen feels ignored over Red Bull ride problems

Verstappen’s fraught exchanges with Lambiase come amidst Red Bull’s apparent regression. They started the season with a dominant car, enabling him to comfortably win the first four races he finished.

However, McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes appear to have out-developed the Milton Keynes outfit. Sky Sports F1 analyst Ted Kravitz says this is ‘unheard of’.

Verstappen was still sitting on seven wins from 10 races after beating Lando Norris in Spain, but he’s failed to win any of the last three. This is his longest barren run since the end of 2021, such is the extent of his recent dominance.

According to The Race, he ‘harbours real frustration’ over the poor performance of the team’s upgrades, including the package they brought to Hungary. Verstappen feels as if ‘he’s not been listened to’ over the ride-quality issues with the RB20, contributing to the ‘friendly fire’ on Sunday.

What Max Verstappen told Daniel Ricciardo about ‘slow’ RB20

Verstappen ‘genuinely didn’t get’ why Red Bull instructed him to run long on his first two stints. In his eyes, the combination of a poor strategy and a limited car led to a disappointing result.

Fortunately, he retains a 76-point advantage at the top of the drivers’ championship. The gap could have dropped into the 60s had McLaren not issued team orders to Norris at the end of the race.

Since the introduction of the current points system in 2010, no driver has ever come back from such a margin. But Verstappen seems to be more concerned about the long-term direction of the team.

Indeed, one conversation with former teammate Daniel Ricciardo was telling. Verstappen told Ricciardo the car is ‘so slow’ on corner entry, and continues to suffer with understeer.