Verstappen warns: “If we continue like this, we will lose both championships”

The Dutch Max Verstappen (Red Bull)triple Formula 1 world champion and World Championship leader, who finished sixth this Sunday in the Italian Grand Prix – the sixteenth of the year -, declared at the Monza circuit that if they continue “like this” they will lose “both championships. “

“If we keep going like this, we’ll both lose the championship”said Verstappen, 26, who won seven of the first ten races of the year, but in the last six so only has gone up twice on the podium. He was second at Silverstone (Great Britain) and at Zandvoort (Netherlands) and today leads with 303 points, 62 more than Englishman Lando Norris (McLaren) -third this Sunday at Monza-; with eight races and three sprint events remaining until the end of the World Championship.

In the constructors’ championship, Red Bull – which last year revalidated this title after winning all but one race (21 out of 22) – is now just eight points ahead of McLaren (446 vs in 438) and with 39 in Ferrari, which is third.

“We have to work hard and change many things in the car, because if not, we will lose everything”warned the ‘Mad Max’, 61 times winner of F1, and even went to assess the current situation of his Red Bull: “Last year we had a great car, the most dominant in history, and basically we converted it “We basically went from a very dominant car to a non-driving car in the space of, what, six to eight months,” he added.

“I can motivate the team, it’s clear. But what I can’t do is design the car,” said the Dutch star, who – excluding Australia, where he retired – this Sunday equaled the worst result of the season: the sixth with that he went to Monaco.

“Overall, it was a difficult weekend at Monzaboth in qualifying and in the race. And in terms of today’s position, we have taken advantage of it. We had a bad pit stop and we were running out of power, so we devoted ourselves to making our own race,” he explained. Verstappen.

“We could have executed a better strategy, but looking back, going to two stops was not optimal, so it all comes down to limiting the damage until the end. There are many things we need to learn from weekend,” said the head of the World Championship. .

“That’s racing. Now, what we have to do is work hard to try to get back to where we want to be; so The two weeks before Baku we have to focus on turning things around and solve the problems we have identified in previous weekends,” stressed Verstappen after finishing sixth on Sunday at Monza.