Max Verstappen believes that the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix highlighted that Red Bull are “not quick enough” in the fight against McLaren. Sergio Pérez shared similar sentiments in their fight with McLaren.
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Verstappen Settled
The Red Bull of Max Verstappen led into the first corner of the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix. He built a lead from Lando Norris and moved out of the DRS window, which looked promising for the home race hero.
However, Norris fought back and on Lap 18 reclaimed the lead from Verstappen into Turn 1. From here, the Briton led the race. He cleared his competitors, finishing 22.8s clear of the pack.
Reflecting on finishing P2 after home race wins in 2021, 2022 and 2023, Verstappen stated: “You always try to do better.
“We had a good start, we tried everything we could today, but throughout the race I think it was quite clear that we’re not quick enough, so I tried to be second.”
Despite their lack of pace for P1, Verstappen provided fans with a move at the beginning that rose levels of hope. Asked about this start by the official F1 channel, the Dutchman shared: “Not at all. I know that we have good starts, so I was quite confident that we would have another one, and luckily it was like that.
“Then I just tried to do my own race, that was my race, and that was second today.”
Pérez’s Concerns
Much like his teammate, Pérez shared concerns about Red Bull’s pace after the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix. Speaking to the official F1 channel, he shared: “I think in terms of weekend progression it has been a solid one, but I’m just very disappointed with the pace we had today in the race.
“It’s something we were not expecting to have. I thought we were going to be a lot closer to the McLaren. Ferrari was a massive surprise and obviously McLaren. So plenty of stuff to understand.”
While the pace is an issue, the Dutch Grand Prix did prove useful for Red Bull. Pérez shared that Red Bull ran different set-ups between their cars to understand why the RB20 is not performing as they believe it should. They now have useful data, which could be useful for Monza.
“I think it has been a positive weekend for the team because we ran different specs between Max and myself so a lot of data gathering for this weekend and hopefully very soon we can put everything together in the right package.
“Monza will be a very different track again. But it was scary to see what McLaren can do today.”
Image Credit: Red Bull Content Pool
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