What Red Bull did at Monza that proved they ‘don’t really know what they’re doing’

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Red Bull shocked everyone with how much the defending champions seemed to struggle at the Italian Grand Prix.

Red Bull looked set to maintain their clear advantage in 2023 over the rest of the field in 2024, having achieved three one-two finishes in the opening four races and seven wins from the first 10 races, all of which coming from Max Verstappen.

However, not only have Red Bull lost that advantage to the surging McLaren and Mercedes, but they have fallen down the pecking order in terms of their package.

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

Team principal Christian Horner believes Red Bull have the fourth-fastest car at the moment and at Monza, that was clear to see. Verstappen qualified down in seventh, almost seven tenths down on pole sitter Lando Norris and on the same tenth as his teammate Sergio Perez in eighth.

Red Bull’s result in qualifying came as a huge surprise to fans on social media, as the team looked far behind their rivals.

This would continue on race day as the RB20’s looked nowhere near the frontrunners as Verstappen came home in sixth – his lowest finish of the season – as Charles Leclerc took the win for the Ferrari.

What Red Bull did at Monza that shows ‘they don’t know what they’re doing’

Speaking on Inside The Piranha Club, Ben Hunt saw a ‘very clear message’ that even Red Bull themselves did not know what was going on after their Monza performance.

In a track like the Temple of Speed, low downforce is key to extract the best out of the car; something that Red Bull clearly failed to achieve.

While Helmut Marko called for an investigation in McLaren and Mercedes, Verstappen stressed that Red Bull should look at themselves, after they brought what has been dubbed a ‘franken-floor’ to Monza; a concept made from the old floor pre-Imola and parts of the new floor.

Max Verstappen bemoaned Red Bull for not prioritising a new rear wing for Monza and instead spending their efforts elsewhere, with Hunt stressing that the team much listen to the Dutchman.

“Yeah, I mean, big wake up call isn’t it?” he said.

“Those words should have been reverberating around Milton Keynes and, you know, they should be listening to what he’s saying, because it’s all very well when things are going well and being able to look good when he’s dominating and winning.

“But it’s when things go wrong that you need to have the ability to learn more and pull yourself back.

“But the message at the moment from this, we called it all just a franken-floor, it gives a very clear message that they don’t really know what they’re doing.

“Despite the press conference afterwards where they keep saying: ‘we know where we’re going wrong’, well that’s all very well knowing but it’s fixing it isn’t it.”

Red Bull are in danger of losing both world titles

Struggles at Red Bull have been so uncommon in recent years, and they could not have come at a worse time in the season as their rivals have caught up and overtake them.

Martin Brundle could not believe what he was seeing as Verstappen struggled in Monza with the RB20’s package. The Dutchman is on the longest winless streak of his career since 2020, having not won a race since Spain or taken pole since Austria.

Perez had already been struggling long before the weaknesses in Red Bull’s package were evident, having not secured a podium since China, but now Verstappen is even finding it difficult to secure results.

After Monza, Lando Norris is 62 points behind Verstappen with eight races to go, while McLaren look set to blast past Red Bull in the constructors’ championship as they sit just eight points behind.

With Red Bull evidently falling behind McLaren, Mercedes and even Ferrari, the Milton Keynes squad are in serious trouble of losing both titles.