Red Bull adviser Dr Helmut Marko has confirmed that Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez are running with the same specification of rear wing this weekend in Baku, so appears confused as to why the Dutchman is struggling.
Verstappen had issues with his DRS throughout the Spanish Grand Prix weekend in Barcelona before he went on to take victory, and his rear wing was violently shaking on the straight in Azerbaijan during Friday practice too.
Perez was not struggling so much with that turbulence, which is a source of confusion for Red Bull, who have now solved the issue.
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“That is now fixed and resolved”, Dr Marko said.
“It is a different wing than we had in Barcelona, but Perez and Verstappen do drive with identical wings and yet it is always Max who is affected by these kinds of problems.”
The reigning champion also heard some strange noises from his new engine during the first session, but the Austrian assures that this is normal while integrating a new power unit.
“With a new engine, it always takes a while before it is adjusted correctly. In FP2, there was nothing more wrong,” added Dr Marko.
Verstappen ended both sessions third on Friday behind Perez and Charles Leclerc, and he is aiming to bounce back after a weekend in Monaco that did not quite go his way.
He was denied a final run in qualifying when Perez crashed at Portier, bringing out the red flag while Fernando Alonso was busy doing the same thing at Mirabeau.
Red Bull’s strategy helped him to P3 to salvage a podium from a less than perfect weekend, but he maintains that the team did a great job in difficult circumstances.
“It cannot always be perfect,” Verstappen said ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend.
“We never really had a perfect weekend until now but I think like I have said before in Monaco, because of that red flag, your race is compromised because you cannot pass in Monaco.
“But overall, I think as a team we did a really good job and then that’s it.
“That race is done, you move on, there is many more where you can score a lot of points, and that’s what we’re going to try to do.”
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The reigning champion finished eighth in Baku in its first iteration as the European Grand Prix, before a reliability failure cost him a year later as team-mate Daniel Ricciardo won from 10th.
The Red Bull pair wiped each other out of the race in 2018, before the 24-year-old ended fourth in a trouble-free race a year later.
Verstappen looked on for victory last season before a puncture put pay to his efforts so, while that was frustrating, he finds solace in the fact that he has always been quick in Azerbaijan.
“I’ve always been going quite well [in Baku],” added the Dutchman.
“Just unlucky with the results, retirements, problems and that’s a bit of a shame but overall the pace has always been good so [I’m] just looking forward to it.”