Alex Jacques Advises Max Verstappen to Pull a Jenson Button if RB20’s Balance Doesn’t Improve Before Austin

After a strong start to the 2024 F1 season, Red Bull has seen a shocking drop in performance. Last year, its star driver, Max Verstappen, won 19 out of 22 races on the calendar, but he is currently winless in the last eight Grand Prix weekends. F1TV commentator and analyst Alex Jacques feels that if Red Bull cannot resolve its problems by the next race, Verstappen will have to ‘pull off a Jenson Button’.

While speaking to David Coulthard on the Formula for Success podcast, Jacques explained how Verstappen has been in ‘damage limitation’ mode. He pointed out that, in Singapore, the 27-year-old drove brilliantly to finish P2 behind Lando Norris, losing as few points as possible to the McLaren driver that evening.

Red Bull is now expected to bring upgrades to its floor in Austin for the US GP. If that doesn’t work out, the Milton-Keynes-based outfit will be on the back foot for the remainder of the campaign. But that doesn’t mean Verstappen has to lose out on the Championship.

In 2009, Button won six of the opening seven races following which he didn’t win any for the rest of the year. Still, the Briton won the Drivers’ title. Jacques feels that Verstappen could have to resort to something similar, by only focusing on the points he would need to win the Championship.

Verstappen won seven out of the opening 10 races in 2024 but has not won since. As such, the stage is set for the Dutchman to do what the ex-Brawn GP driver did 15 years ago.

The biggest issue affecting Red Bull in 2024 has been its balance. Initially, Sergio Perez bore the brunt, struggling to get close to Verstappen, who was overperforming with the sub-par RB20. But when Verstappen began struggling as well, it became clear that changes needed to be made.

Red Bull’s Austin GP upgrades

Red Bull revealed they would bring floor upgrades to Austin last month. The engineers at the Austrian outfit feel it would help them resolve the balance issue, which has struggled with a mixture of understeer and oversteer while navigating the corners of certain tracks.

Reports added that Red Bull has reallocated some of the resources initially reserved for its 2025 car to be used for this year’s car. This suggests that Red Bull has not given up on the 2024 season, despite already losing the lead in the Constructors’ Championship to McLaren.

As it stands, McLaren holds a 41-point lead over Red Bull, with six races remaining. Red Bull’s push to become competitive again this year is likely good news for Verstappen, whose lead in the championship has slipped to just 52 points ahead of second-placed Norris.