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Max Verstappen feels Red Bull’s reliability this season is still “a bit of a hit and miss” despite their dominant performances at the previous races in Imola and Miami.
Apart from the Imola GP weekend, Verstappen believes the team has been beset with problems at nearly every race weekend this season.
Speaking to planetF1, he called for the team to get on top of its reliability issues:
“We just have to nail down a really positive weekend without issues. I think, of course, Imola we had that, but it’s still a bit of a hit and miss too much. So, we just have to make sure we are more reliable and more on top of things.
“But as you can see, the car is quick. I’m very happy about that. I mean, if you would be slow and reliable, that’s probably also not a good thing.”
Max Verstappen’s title defense got off to a bad start after he, along with teammate Sergio Perez, failed to finish the season opener at Bahrain with a fuel pump issue. While he won the following race, the Dutchman was forced to retire once again in Australia, further widening his deficit to championship leader Charles Leclerc.
Over the last two races, though, Red Bull seem to have found some fixes to their reliability issues. As a result, Verstappen was able to slash his deficit against Leclerc to less than a race win’s worth of points.
Despite their recent dominance, however, Red Bull’s reliability woes seem far from over. At Miami, Verstappen had to work extra hard to secure his second consecutive win of the season after missing out on the majority of Friday practice in Miami. Meanwhile, Sergio Perez lost out on a potential podium after experiencing power loss mid-race.
Max Verstappen “stronger” after clinching first F1 world title: Jacques Villeneuve
Former F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve claims that winning the world championship last season has made Max Verstappen “stronger” than ever before.
Villeneuve believes the title victory “released the pressure” from the Dutchman, leading to him driving “flawlessly” this season.
Speaking to formule1, the Canadian said:
“Max has been impressive from the start of the season. Normally you may be a bit tired after a championship year, but you see that nothing has changed. In fact, he just got stronger. Because he has been released from that championship pressure.
“He drives almost flawlessly and when he makes a mistake, he corrects it. He drives at the peak of his abilities, on the edge. He makes the best of what he can control – we saw that in Miami.”
Max Verstappen currently trails title rival Charles Leclerc by 19 points in the standings after two consecutive victories.
With Red Bull’s recent upturn in form, the 24-year-old will be hoping to carry that momentum and wrestle back the championship lead from Leclerc.
