Red Bull find themselves in a bitter-sweet spot with their drivers at the moment, as Ricciardo is getting into his groove and finding that sweet spot with his car, while Verstappen is struggling with ‘clean overtaking issues’ and trivial crashes on the race track.
Verstappen crashed out during FP3 on Saturday morning, leaving his team with very little time to get his car back in shape for qualifying and thus had to start at the back of the grid.
He displayed some smooth overtaking skills in Monaco, a track that is not known for its overtaking manoeuvres.
However, Christian Horner has re-emphasised on the fact that Verstappen needs to realise his mistakes and examine as to how he is losing out on some very crucial points and wins for himself and his team.
“He needs to go away from this weekend and reflect on what could have been, what should have been, and apply that for the future,” said Horner.
“I think he has a very good teacher in the car next door to him.
“Max has an abundance of talent. He’s had some harsh lessons, obviously, this year and I think a modified approach will benefit him.
“I think what’s frustrating is that he’s working harder than ever. He feels fitter than ever and it feels like he’s trying a bit too hard.
“When you get into a spiral you try harder. You have to hit the reset button.” he added.
Horner brought to the fore two ways in which Verstappen’s errors are costing Red Bull, as it not only costs Red Bull to repair the car, it also makes them slide down that constructor’s championship.
Red Bull currently trail table toppers Mercedes by 71 points.
“Giving away points and damage is expensive on two counts,” said Horner,
“It’s costing money to repair the car and you are giving away valuable points in the constructors’ championship, and we should be right there with Mercedes and Ferrari.
“We have given away probably over 60-65 points this year.
“We need both drivers performing at an optimum to be able to fight with those two teams.” he added.
