"That remains a burden and you cannot solve it with one upgrade" - Max Verstappen feels RedBull's overweight 'costing' them lap time

Max Verstappen claims the RB18's high weight is costing Red Bull crucial lap time against Ferrari. The reigning world champion is currently 38-points ahead of his championship rival Charles Leclerc in the Driver Standings but has failed to win the last two races.

Max Verstappen's title bid in 2022 may be affected by the RB18's weight disadvantage compared to its competitors. The driver, though leading the Driver Standings, is being viciously chased down by Charles Leclerc and Ferrari, whose upgrades have negated any pace differences that might have been in place at the start of the season.

The Dutchman lamented that the increased weight of the Red Bull cannot simply be removed through some simple upgrades and would require a much more comprehensive plan from the Milton-Keynes-based team.

Max Verstappen spoke about the RB18's challenges, as reported by Formule1.NL, and said:

“The cars are different, you learn so much more from a weekend than last year, for example. Then we were really at the end of the further development. Now we have to keep bringing upgrades and they have to work. We have proven to be good at this in recent years, but that offers no guarantees. We must continue to show that this year. The weight by definition costs lap time, that remains a burden and you cannot solve it with one upgrade.”

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Max Verstappen feels Red Bull is still chasing Ferrari in both standings despite its considerable lead

Max Verstappen believes Red Bull is still chasing Ferrari in terms of performance in 2022 despite leading the standings for both world titles.

The Maranello-based team's aggressive approach to developing its 2022 F1 Power Unit has been a boon and a curse for the Scuderia. While no one has been able to match the pace of its package, Ferrari has been plagued by major reliability issues in the 11 rounds of racing this year.

The Scuderia has proven itself to be the undisputed king of qualifying sessions, with seven pole positions secured in the first half of the season. However, its major reliability issues have helped Red Bull not only catch up, but also take over the lead in both championships. Despite taking the lead in both championships, Max Verstappen told the media:

“In general, I felt like at the beginning of the year we were the ones like chasing and trying to beat Ferrari. Then they had a few retirements and we of course took advantage of that, or through strategy calls. So I think overall, we, from my feeling, [are] still [doing] a bit of chasing. Of course it depends a bit on the tracks, but overall, I feel they had more dominant weekends than we [did].”

The 2022 French GP is set to be the latest battleground for the epic fight between the two mammoth teams. Only time will tell which of the two will emerge victorious.