Max Verstappen has revealed that Red Bull are aware of their “weaknesses” ahead of the 2024 season getting underway in two months, with the side tending to struggle at street circuits.
Street tracks were Red Bull’s kryptonite in 2023, with the Singapore Grand Prix having been the only race which the Milton Keynes-based side didn’t win.
Red Bull actually looked surprisingly average at the Marina Bay Circuit, with both Verstappen and Sergio Perez having been eliminated in Q2.
The Dutchman was able to recover to fifth but it marked the only event in 2023 where he wasn’t on the rostrum.
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In general, both Red Bull drivers appeared to struggle with the RB19’s handling at street circuits, as proven by Perez at the Monaco Grand Prix, where he crashed heavily in Q1.
Red Bull’s issues at street circuits were triggered by the car struggling to perform at low-speed, something which most of the lap in Monaco and Singapore is completed at.
It means that the Austrians do still have things to work on over the winter break to be even stronger in 2024, a worrying thing to contemplate.
“It’s difficult to tell but, of course, we are also working on our car to try and make it better,” Verstappen said, as per GPFans.com.
“I think we know our weaknesses as well in the car and that’s what we’ll try to work on plus, of course, trying to make our strengths even stronger.”
As well as struggling at low-speed, Verstappen believes the RB19 was also a handful when going over kerbs and bumps, an issue which the 26-year-old states is a “big area” for improvements to be made.
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Street circuits on the calendar typically consist of several bumps and kerbs, which is why they struggled so much more at the likes of Monaco and Singapore than purpose-built tracks.
“Of course there are [weaknesses],” Verstappen added. “Look at our race weekend in Singapore. In general, on street circuits, I think we are struggling a bit more, like in Vegas also.
“Low-speed is definitely not our strongest point in the car, [going over] bumps, kerbs as well, so that’s definitely a big area where we can improve.”