Ruth Buscombe shares the one Formula 1 car trait Max Verstappen is ‘allergic’ to

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Max Verstappen isn’t having everything his own way this season but still looks on course to win his fourth straight world championship at the halfway stage of the campaign.

Although the likes of Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes have closed the gap to Red Bull this year, Max Verstappen’s talent and consistency continues to shine through.

The misfortune of his teammate Sergio Perez is highlighting just how important Verstappen currently is to Red Bull’s success.

F1 strategist Ruth Buscombe was speaking on the Drive To Wynn Podcast about the Dutch driver.

After 12 race weekends, Verstappen is already 84 points clear of his nearest rival Lando Norris in the Drivers’ Championship.

Their clash at the Red Bull Ring created plenty of headlines and suggested that the 26-year-old might finally have an on-track rival.

However, even when Verstappen crashed in Austria, he still managed to pick up 11 points while Norris was forced to retire from the race.

Verstappen is so in sync with the RB20 that even if Red Bull aren’t the fastest team on the grid, it seems very unlikely that he’ll ever not be in contention to take pole position or win a Grand Prix.

The fact that he managed to finish runner-up to Lewis Hamilton at Silverstone despite having the third-fastest car that weekend highlights his ability to make quick decisions while racing and extract the maximum out of a car that Perez is proving is extremely difficult to drive at times.

However, Buscombe believes that Verstappen’s Red Bull is deliberately set up this way and that the Dutchman is ‘allergic’ to understeer.

It’s a trait shared by another driver on the grid who could end up joining Verstappen at Red Bull sooner rather than later.

READ MORE: Red Bull driver Max Verstappen’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend

Ruth Buscombe says Red Bull star Max Verstappen is ‘allergic’ to understeer

Talking about different driving styles, Buscombe said: “Certain drivers love understeery cars, certain drivers hate them.

“Max [Verstappen] is allergic to understeer, you give him an understeery car and he’ll hate it.

“Whereas he could drive an incredibly V-style car which when it’s all set up gives you these phenomenally fast lap times.

“Daniel Ricciardo really like a V-style car as well and then you saw when he left Red Bull which is a really pointy car, you don’t throw it into the entries and exits.

“And went to the Renault car that was a lot more, quite tank-like, he couldn’t drive it in a v-style way.”

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Red Bull Racing from engine to Ford links

Could Daniel Ricciardo be Max Verstappen’s latest Red Bull teammate?

Although Red Bull would likely deny it, it’s clear that the development of their cars has been guided primarily by how Verstappen feels when driving.

Teammate after teammate has struggled to match him at Red Bull, with Alex Albon explaining the lengths he went to in order to try and match his old rival.

Sergio Perez is now under immense pressure to save his Red Bull seat despite only signing a contract extension in June.

Daniel Ricciardo has been touted as an option to replace Perez although his form has been middling at best this year and has yet to be offered a contract for 2025.

Given the Australian likes his car to be set up similarly to Verstappen, even if he’s been outclassed by Yuki Tsunoda at Visa Cash App RB, he may still be the best option to promote during the summer break.

Reserve driver Liam Lawson is also in the frame to replace Perez but the pressure on the rookie would make an extremely difficult job even tougher.