Former Red Bull F1 driver offers 'earthquake' theory for current struggles

Former Red Bull F1 driver Vitantonio Liuzzi believes the "earthquake" inside the Milton Keynes-based team this season has caused it to lose ground to its rivals in the F1 upgrade race.

The Italian, who also raced for Toro Rosso, pointed out that several factors have contributed to weaker development from the reigning constructors' champions than in the past, such as Adrian Newey's shock departure.

The 44-year-old feels that this, coupled with McLaren doing "everything right at the right time", has eradicated Red Bull's performance advantage.

"Things have changed since the past few years," Liuzzi told Dutch broadcaster NOS.

"The supremacy of Red Bull and Max [Verstappen] has changed, and now McLaren is doing an amazing job catching up.

"I think in the last few months, after the earthquake that happened inside Red Bull, Adrian Newey left, a few things changed inside the team, the development took a little bit of a wiggle [wobble].

"It was not such a strong development as in the past, and McLaren did everything right at the right time. So I think it's a combination of things."

With a healthy 70-point lead in the drivers' championship, Liuzzi does not think Verstappen is at risk of losing out to McLaren's Lando Norris. However, he was quick to caution that "things can change."

As the Woking squad has continued to successfully develop the MCL38, Red Bull has struggled with the balance of the RB20, something that is preventing the team from effectively porting upgrades onto the car.

The Italian explained how developments can change, and therefore unsettle the balance, as has happened to the Red Bull.

"When you do development in a car, things can change, because you test things in the wind tunnel, in the simulators, but sometimes these updates, they change the balance of the car," Liuzzi said.

"But the balance can change from track to track because we have Monza, super high-speed track with low downforce. Then you go to Singapore, super low-speed. 

"Everything can change from track to track, but I think the development of Red Bull has been a little bit not as usual, not as in the past.

"This doesn't mean that the [drivers'] championship is in danger, but things can change."