Max Verstappen, Red Bull, Monza, 2020

Verstappen unsure why slipstreams made his car slower on straights

2020 Italian Grand Prix

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Max Verstappen said he couldn’t understand why his car became slower on the straights when he had a slipstream from another car in qualifying.

“I kept going closer and closer to the car ahead of me and I was just going slower on the straights,” he said after taking fifth on the grid for tomorrow’s race. “It’s a bit weird.”

Verstappen has regularly qualified third behind the two Mercedes drivers this year, but was relegated to fifth place by Carlos Sainz Jnr and Sergio Perez today. Nonetheless he said Red Bull did everything they could to extract the best from his car.

“The whole weekend we have been struggling a bit,” he said. “I tried everything. I tried all the wing levels which are possible to run at Monza and at the end the lap time was the same.

“It just shows that when we are in low downforce the car is still not where we want it to be. Just struggling a bit for balance and grip in general, so a lot of things to look into.

“It is easy to say we are down on power but that it not an excuse. So a lot of things we have to work on.”

He expects the team will regain its previous level of competitiveness at other tracks.

“We just didn’t do a good job,” he said. “Monza is a very special track anyway. When we go back to a more normal layout I expect us to be third again but it’s still not good enough for our side.”

Verstappen has finished on the podium in all of the last six races. He believes he can keep his streak going tomorrow.

“We are all very close from third to ninth or 10th. I expect we can still fight for third. We won’t talk about Mercedes, that’s another level.”

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2020 Italian Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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10 comments on “Verstappen unsure why slipstreams made his car slower on straights”

  1. No more party modes and Max is nigh on a second shy of Lewis on such a 78 seconds lap. How to explain it?

    “Just struggling a bit for balance and grip…” – sounds like a rerun of Button’s constant refrain.

  2. The Latin name for what you’re experiencing is banpartymoderegretus-redbullis.

    1. 😂😂😂 As the last comment said, slip stream issues probably caused by the lack of a party going on in your engine mate!

  3. Verstappen 5th whilst being towed behind Hamilton, who was of course 1st. (Q2)

  4. Max has had a few mediocre qualifing this year,and with a 3rd rate teammate who cant expose him and a media that want to put him on the same level as a 6 times world champ,he escapes any real scrutiny….Max lost 3 poles to Ricciardo and couldnt take one to become the youngest champ….he only eventually took his one only pole when teamed with hopeless Albon who came in half way through..just saying

    1. Next time you start a rant, be sure to fact-check it beforehand.

    2. His first pole actually came with gasly as his teammate in Hungary and he stomped Ricciardo in quali in 2018 and sometimes the gap was as big as it is to Albon and was to Gasly. Like their gap in Singapore 2018 which was 6 tenths I think and their are other examples as well

  5. @spactus Points are awarded on Sunday. I don’t understand how you can say he’s mediocre on Saturday when he has swept his team mate in quali for the past two years.

  6. Max is such a great driver! Only problem is that his whining is as big as his talent. He’s always behaving like a spoiled brat! Never admit mistakes, blame everyone else, and this is getting old to me.

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