Lando Norris could not have asked for a better Dutch GP weekend. From topping the timesheets in FP1 to beating Max Verstappen to the pole position by over three-tenths of a second, the Briton was quick right off the bat. To top that, Norris beat Verstappen to the chequered flag in the race by 22.9 seconds.
That gap, however, does not reflect the performance the RB20 is capable of, according to Martin Brundle. The Sky Sports F1 commentator believes Verstappen deliberately widened the gap to Norris after losing the race lead. Brundle feels the reason behind that is the need to wake Red Bull engineers from their slumber and bring some crucial upgrades.
Speaking after the race, Brundle said, “I would hazard a guess that was not as fast as Max [Verstappen] could go. He knew he couldn’t beat Lando [Norris] and dropping back like that is going to give the factory a hurry up, isn’t it?”
Wondering why Red Bull has dramatically slipped down the order, he continued, “It is confusing as not that long ago it looked like the Red Bull was on rails. It seems as though they have taken away some of the confidence of the driver. It is odd they have fallen away so dramatically.”
: “how far were you?”
MV: “20 seconds or something.”
: “…”
MV: “yeah…”
charles’ face #dutchGP pic.twitter.com/VVG4dpllCD
— leclerc data (@leclercdata) August 25, 2024
Red Bull’s drop in performance became evident since Norris’ first win at the Miami GP. Incidentally, that is also the race where Red Bull, as per Peter Windsor, changed their braking setup.
The veteran F1 journalist believes the Austrian team was running the now-outlawed differential braking system before Miami. Coincidentally, Verstappen has complained about his brakes multiple times in the races since.
Verstappen was not as surprised as Brundle over Red Bull’s performance
Verstappen got off to a phenomenal start as he pulled ahead of Norris to take the race lead. However, the joy did not last too long as the #4 driver took the place back with DRS assistance on lap 18.
After that, Verstappen complained about the understeer and braking performance of the RB20 throughout the race. Speaking on the team radio, he did not shy away from highlighting how much he was struggling with the car.
After the race, the Dutchman said, “I’m not surprised with how my feeling was in the car. I couldn’t do anything. Everything I tried to do…I said it during the race, whatever I do with the car, the inputs are not really translating.”
Verstappen’s only focus was on bagging the next best finish possible as Norris made the race win a distant dream. “He came by and from that point onwards, I was focused on bringing it to the end in the best possible position,” the three-time champion concluded.
