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Toto Wolff thinks Red Bull’s RB20 hardships could still be a ‘blip’ after a disappointing weekend in Italy.
Red Bull has struggled in recent months with the team last winning a race back in May in Spain. Despite the team’s difficulties, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff believes the Milton-Keynes-based team shouldn’t be written off.
At the start of the season Red Bull won four out of the first five races, rising to the top of the Constructors Championship and Max Verstappen laying down a dominant start to the 2024 season. However, the team started to lack pace after the Spanish Grand Prix with both Verstappen and Sergio Perez struggling for balance.
The struggles meant McLaren have been able to stake a claim for both Championships with the gap between Red Bull and McLaren closed down to just eight points.
Verstappen expresses uncertainty
In the drivers standings, Lando Norris has closed the gap down to 62 points – just over three race victories worth of points. With eight races left of the 2024 season, Verstappen has expressed his worry and states the team won’t be able to hold onto the lead for long with how things are turning out.
“At the moment, both championships are not realistic,” Verstappen told the media.
“I’ve said a lot and now it’s up to the team to come with a lot of changes with the car, because we basically went from a very dominant car to an undriveable car in the space of six to eight months.”
“Last year we had a great car, which was the most dominant car ever. And we basically turned it into a monster,”
Wolff gives his two cents
Despite the recent hardships of the RB20, Wolff isn’t looking to write off Red bull just yet, reflecting on Mercedes own difficulties and how they’ve been able to bounce back:
“It is really weird. I have no insight obviously but that is not at all the Red Bull at the start of the year – dominant,” Wolff stated to Autosport.
“I think that Max was able to keep it going for a while with his ability, but it seems now that [the pace has gone] from the sheer results – and that is what I see without understanding or knowing what is going on inside – because it could be a blip, also.”
“[Monza] was probably one of the worst races that we have seen for many years, to have no pace. But who am I to say that? We had two years where nothing functioned, and it was the same with Ferrari a few races ago.
“So I don’t think you can write them off, they are a formidable team and I’m sure there will be better races, but McLaren is clearly the favourite now for the constructors’ championship, they have two drivers scoring and I bet Red Bull didn’t expect that at the beginning of the year.”
Featured image credits: Clive Rose via Getty Images