Jos Verstappen slams Red Bull: The era of dominance appears over

Jos Verstappen has judged Red Bull's era of dominance to be over, suggesting the team should consider its priorities after what he feels has been wayward focus.

The father of triple-world champion Max stated that whilst the Milton Keynes outfit will remain competitive, something needs to be done to solve its quickly diminishing gap to Ferrari and McLaren behind.

In Monaco, the constructors' title holders endured a second successive difficult weekend, after struggling through the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix one week prior.

After lacking pace during practice, Max Verstappen could not match the pace of the Ferraris and McLarens in qualifying, finding himself in the mix with the Mercedes of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton. He had to abort his final push lap after hitting the wall on the outside of Turn 1, Sainte Devote.

Having lined up in sixth for the race, he could not find away past Russell ahead, ultimately bringing his RB20 home in the same position as he started, in between the two Mercedes.

"The era when Red Bull had the dominant car really seems to be over now," his father told Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf after the race, before taking a swipe at the team: "Maybe they should start focusing a bit more on racing and mutual communication again, rather than on other things..."

"There will definitely be races where Red Bull will be in good shape again, but I am very curious to see how they are going to solve this. Something really needs to happen there," 

"Red Bull needs to find out where this problem is coming from, because it is clear that teams like Ferrari and McLaren are getting closer. Max has still been able to mask that somewhat, but the big difference with Sergio Perez is becoming more and more obvious."

'I am curious to see how they are going to solve this'

The elder Verstappen did contend that whilst Red Bull won't have things its way the entire time, it will remain in the hunt. However, he cautioned the team must do something soon - and he is curious to see what that might be.

"There will definitely be races where Red Bull will be in good shape again," he said. "But I am very curious to see how they are going to solve this. Something really needs to happen there."

The 52-year-old could not resist turning his attention to his son's team-mate Sergio Perez, who had another underwhelming weekend, after failing to make Q3 and Imola and only being able to recover to eighth in that race

The Mexican driver failed to make it out of Q1 in Monaco for the second season in a row. His race lasted all but two corners. The 34-year-old collided with the Haas of Kevin Magnussen on the run up through Beau Rivage, before collecting the Dane's team-mate Nico Hulkenberg. 

"Red Bull needs to find out where this problem is coming from, because it is clear that teams like Ferrari and McLaren are getting closer," Verstappen senior explained. 

"Max has still been able to mask that somewhat, but the big difference with Sergio Perez is becoming more and more obvious."