Jos Verstappen has continued his verbal attack on Red Bull when it came to reflecting on the Dutch Grand Prix, where son Max Verstappen finished 20 seconds behind the winner.
After taking the lead at the start, Verstappen was unable to resist Lando Norris’ advances and ended up coming home over 20 seconds behind the McLaren driver by the chequered flag.
Jos Verstappen: It’s time for Red Bull to question themselves
Tensions between Jos Verstappen and Red Bull boss Christian Horner have rarely been far away this season, with the father of three-time F1 World Champion Max having called for Horner’s job at the season opener in Bahrain.
With Red Bull’s initial form this year allowing Verstappen to claim several wins and establish a healthy lead in the championship, the recent dip in competitiveness has resulted in five consecutive races with the Dutch driver not managing a win and, as a result, Verstappen senior has taken aim at the decisions being made regarding the car’s development.
“Over 20 seconds is a huge disappointment. Max never had a chance of winning,” Verstappen told German publication Bild.
“But that’s not surprising when you regress the car.”
With Max pointing out the shortcomings he can feel from the RB20 as his championship lead over Norris starts to shrink, his father believes Red Bull needs to respond – and fast – and pointed out how recent personnel departures may also be having an effect.
That says it all. The team took the wrong turn several times,” he said.
“Internally, we should hold up a mirror to ourselves and not always gloss over everything. It’s time – if it’s not already too late – to question ourselves. The good people are leaving the team. I’m very unhappy with what’s happening.”
With Norris and Oscar Piastri appearing to have the fastest car on the grid now, McLaren now appears to be the favourites for the Constructors’ Championship as Red Bull’s lead continues to shrink with nine race weekends still to come.
“You can’t sugarcoat it anymore, the situation is serious,” Verstappen gravely said.
“Max won’t be happy with having a car like this. Now it’s up to Horner to get the team back on track.”
Speaking to Dutch publication De Telegraaf, Verstappen said of the team’s experimenting with previous specifications of the RB20, “The fact that you have to go back to the car from the beginning of this year says enough.”
Meanwhile, Sky F1 broadcaster Martin Brundle suspects the Red Bull driver may have tried to exaggerate the extent of his car’s deficit by falling so far behind Norris in a bid to send a shockwave through his team.
“I would hazard a guess that that was not as fast as Max could go,” Brundle said.
“He knew he couldn’t beat Lando and dropping back a bit like that, it’s going to give the factory a hurry up, isn’t it? I’d be pretty sure of that.”
Meanwhile, Verstappen also issued a very rare message via X (formerly Twitter) as he responded to a poster’s comment.
“All those sensational messages like alarm phase 1 at Red Bull because Lando Norris finishes 23 seconds before Max Verstappen,” read the comment.
“There was no need for Max to go all out. Whether you finish 2nd at 4 or at 23 sec, you get the same number of points.”
Verstappen senior’s response to this was succinct: “Then you haven’t understood it yet.”
