Max Verstappen qualified and finished sixth in Monaco, while teammate Sergio Perez was eliminated in Q1 and later involved in a lap-one collision. It capped off an already difficult weekend at Imola, where Verstappen and Red Bull had to dig deep to resolve vehicle handling difficulties between free practice and qualifying, and the Dutchman was only able to keep McLaren’s Lando Norris at bay in the race.

Miami, where Norris won, and Melbourne were also weekends when Red Bull appeared less confident than it had been in the previous 18 months. Monaco has revealed a weakness on kerbs and bumps that loses the RB20 more performance than rival teams. That weakness remained basically unchanged from last year, but the RB19’s supremacy allowed it to compensate for it on practically every circuit, except for a tumultuous weekend in Singapore.

However, the fact that Red Bull has yet to overcome its problems has raised some concerns, as Verstappen believes it demonstrates that the Milton Keynes-based squad still does not understand how to fix it. It is a fundamental problem, so it is not something that will be fixed within weeks, Verstappen said. Asked by Autosport if that means it is an inherent chassis problem that won’t be rectified before 2025, the 26-year-old Dutch driver replied that we need to understand what it is, because we clearly don’t understand it.

However, we will work hard to identify the problem and then try to resolve it. I’m not sure if we can achieve it this year, but hopefully next year, Verstappen added. With Ferrari and McLaren tightening the gap, Red Bull will be unable to get away with less-than-ideal weekends. This also means that the circuits Red Bull won last year will become more difficult to win.

Singapore is the obvious choice, given Red Bull was completely lost last year. However, next weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal includes another rough layout that emphasizes kerb-riding but lacks the high-downforce corners where Red Bull’s RB20 may demonstrate its muscle. There are definitely a few tracks on the calendar that are not ideal for us. Any track that is bumpy or you have to ride a lot of kerbs, so the street circuits, will probably be a little bit tricky but hopefully, by then, we have a little bit of understanding of what is going on, Verstappen expressed.

There’s one clear direction where I think we’re still lacking quite a bit of performance. So, if we can fix that, our car will be better in general on every single track, he concluded.