Max Verstappen has hit a rough patch, failing to win a Grand Prix in his last four races—a situation he hasn’t faced since 2020.
Despite qualifying in pole position, Verstappen started from P11 at Spa due to penalties for extra power unit components. The race began promisingly; Verstappen quickly overtook Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso. However, George Russell became a stubborn obstacle he couldn’t surpass.
Reflecting on his race, Verstappen said, “You get stuck in that DRS train – and we weren’t fast enough anyway… maybe if we’d had another hard tyre, maybe I could have taken one more position… I was non seconds off the lead and it stayed there.”
The penalties made Verstappen’s race more challenging. He expressed his frustration: “Of course if you start P1 where we qualified yesterday then my race probably would have looked very different… It just a bit of a tricky race when you’re stuck there.”
He acknowledged the current competitive landscape, stating, “They are ahead of us. Sometimes McLaren – sometimes Mercedes… But we know we have work to do; we want to do better.”
Meanwhile, Sergio Perez is under fierce scrutiny due to his lackluster performances. Starting second in Spa, Perez ended up in P8, later upgraded to P7. Dr. Helmut Marko was blunt in his assessment: “Sergio had the opportunity to take a good result from second place… Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.”
Perez blamed various factors, including power issues and tire troubles, for his poor showing. He remarked, “It was a very disappointing race… It started well, I was just struggling a lot on the straights… Balance wasn’t there as well, so plenty of things to analyze on our side.”
Red Bull’s lead over McLaren has dwindled from 115 points to 38. Marko hinted at potential changes: “For us, the situation is such that we will also go through the overall situation for 2025. We have a number of drivers and we have a concept.”
With the pressure mounting, the future for both Verstappen and Perez appears uncertain. Only time will tell if they can turn things around before the next Grand Prix.
