Max Verstappen's demotivating remarks about Red Bull under scrutiny from F1 expert

Max Verstappen's demotivating demeanor and remarks have come under the scanner, as Bernie Collins feels that such comments are going to hit the team hard. The F1 Hungarian GP was a complete disaster for the team, as the car was horribly off the pace.

As a result, Max Verstappen had one of his worst weekends of the year, where he qualified in P8 and finished the race in P9. Not only that, the driver was the first driver to not be lapped, as every driver until P10 had been lapped by the McLaren duo.

Talking to the media afterwards, Max Verstappen was quite dismissive of Red Bull's prospects for the rest of the season. The driver claimed that he didn't expect the team to go ahead and fight for wins for the rest of the year.

The comments came as a surprise, as Verstappen already has multiple poles and wins this season and won the sprint in Spa. Commenting on the driver's comments on Sky Sports, Bernie Collins said

“I don’t think any driver says we’re not going to win anything this year as a motivator to the team. That’s pretty demotivating if I were an engineer. I think that would really hit you a little bit."

He added,

“So, I think he’s hoping that with Laurent Mekies, a very tactical guy, they can get on top of the issues that this Red Bull has had for several seasons now. Get the second driver working well, and next year, they’ve got this real line in the sand, a real chance to start again."

Max Verstappen using a powerful way to communicate with Red Bull

The team has been facing issues with the car for a while now, and it has been clear that these issues have not been fixed. Whether it is the balance or the ability to be more nimble in the slow-to-medium-speed sections, Red Bull has been plagued with quite a few issues over the years. Collins felt that Max Verstappen was using a very powerful and direct way of communication when he was being this blunt. She said,

“But, they need to get on top of these fundamental issues that they’ve been having for a little while now. Max, I think, is just using it as a powerful way of communicating with the team, ‘I am really not happy, and something needs to change in this car to make me happy’."

He added,

“That’s what will hopefully drive the entire engineering force behind him to get a car that he can be more competitive with next year.”

Max Verstappen has not been on the podium for four consecutive races. A run that he has not had since 2017. The Dutch driver would be hoping for a return to form soon, as the next race is at his home in the Netherlands.

Edited by Charanjot Singh Kohli