Max Verstappen has once again highlighted a problem that has accompanied Red Bull Racing for several seasons, and which remains present even with the new generation of Formula 1 cars: the way the car behaves over bumps and rumble strips. For the Dutch driver, the team has not yet found a clear solution to this difficulty.
The issue gained traction last weekend at Monza, when Verstappen complained about the rear-axle behavior of his RB22 as it passed over irregularities and rumble strips. Now, with the team’s arrival at the Madring circuit in Madrid, the characteristic has again become a concern for the squad.
“It’s a problem we’ve known for a long time, so it’s something we’re trying to understand, trying to fix, trying to improve. But we know that rumble strips and undulations are not the best scenario for our car,” Verstappen told the press.
Asked about the possibility that issues from the previous cars had carried over to the current model, the four-time champion confirmed that indeed this had happened. According to Verstappen, some characteristics persisted even with the regulation change.
“Yes, certainly, some things were inherited from the previous cars. I used to complain about the behavior and the rumble strips before, and I continue to complain about it,” he added.
Verstappen also clarified why Red Bull has not yet managed to completely eliminate this weakness. According to the four-time champion, there isn’t necessarily a single element responsible for the behavior, which makes diagnosing and correcting it more difficult.
“Unfortunately, the answer isn’t very clear or direct, because otherwise, it’s obvious that we would have already fixed these things. F1 can sometimes be very complicated, and it isn’t easy to identify a single problem, because several things may combine to create the difficulty,” he added.
For Verstappen, the team needs to understand how these different factors relate to each other inside the car before it can make meaningful progress in this regard.
