Red Bull car ’problem’ not fixed yet - Verstappen

Red Bull has made a few tweaks since underperforming at Monaco, but Dr Helmut Marko admits a proper fix will have to wait for now.

After utterly dominating in the ’ground effect’ era since 2022, the team is now being seriously challenged by Ferrari and McLaren.

The issue with Red Bull’s 2024 car became obvious two weeks ago in Monaco, when Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez struggled with the bumpy track and kerbs.

Montreal has similar characteristics, while Red Bull F1 consultant Marko admits that Ferrari is "universally fast on all tracks".

Triple world champion Verstappen said on Thursday: "We have to solve the problems.

"After Monaco I believe we had a very constructive week in which we looked at the reasons why things are not going so well for us at the moment," he added.

"We have to go step by step to solve it. It’s not something you can solve in one or two weeks."

Red Bull has made certain setup tweaks for Montreal, but there are no significant new parts on the car this weekend.

"We have a problem," Marko told Kleine Zeitung newspaper. "We have now finally noticed it. We will see when we find a solution.

"But new parts will not be installed on the car until Barcelona."

Verstappen, however, says the 2024 car is still "fast", adding: "If we can improve the situation slightly, we will immediately create a lot more laptime.

"But to really solve it, you have to redesign things and introduce different ideas into the design of the car," said the Dutchman. "That’s even harder with the budget cap."

McLaren driver Lando Norris agrees with Marko that Ferrari is "the favourite" for this weekend.

"They are strong on the straights and they also did very well in Monaco," he said. "If you look at the total package, I think they have the best credentials for this circuit."