A test of patience for F1 star Max Verstappen: no quick fix in sight

For the Red Bull Racing duo, Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar, one thing is clear: they are at a disadvantage compared to their rivals in the opening metres. This is because starts in the RB22 have been lacklustre, as was evident during the opening stages of the US Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas. Neither the four-time champion nor his team-mate got off to a good start.

And if Hadjar is to be believed, a solution won’t be found any time soon. The Frenchman complained that the clutch was too prone to failure. And because the problem affects several components, he doesn’t expect any improvement by the end of the season.

Team principal Laurent Mekies confirms: “This is a complex problem; performance over the first few metres affects pretty much every department at our factory, except perhaps aerodynamics. It’s about the engine, the gearbox, the clutch – there are lots of factors, and we’ve also seen since the start of the season that we’re not setting the benchmark for our rivals when it comes to performance in the initial stages.”

Team principal Laurent Mekies: No unrealistic expectations for this year

“We’ve managed to reduce the gap in this respect; I can still clearly remember how poor our starts were at the start of the season. Nevertheless, we’re not the best when it comes to start performance. And the fact that our car has improved significantly since then – allowing us to compete at the front – makes this weakness all the more painful, because our direct rivals are very strong in this respect,” the engineer admits.

“So I’m confident that we can reduce the gap in starting performance even further by the end of the season, as we’re learning with every race and constantly implementing new ideas that help us in this regard. But I also know that we won’t be producing the best starts on the grid by the end of the season. To do that, we’d have to make some significant changes to the hardware, and we won’t be able to do that until we look ahead to next year,” reveals the Frenchman

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