Max Verstappen has implored Red Bull to put him back into the position he was in during his record-breaking third F1 drivers' championship season in 2023.
The Dutchman cantered to the title that year, finishing almost 300 points clear of Sergio Perez in second, 575 to 285.
In addition to having over double the number of points of his team-mate, the 27-year-old could have won the constructors' crown single-handedly, with runners up Mercedes taking 409 points in total.
However, Red Bull has fallen from its perch, and despite Verstappen managing to win a fourth-consecutive F1 drivers' championship last year, the Milton Keynes-based team was only been able to produce a pale imitation of the RB19 from 2023 - a situation that has remained case with the RB21 of the current campaign.
As the RB20 became increasingly troublesome as last season wore on, Perez started to struggle, to the extent he was axed from his seat over the winter break.
Those issues plagued Liam Lawson during his two rounds with the team and Yuki Tsunoda is yet to show the turn of pace the six-time F1 constructors' champion is hoping to see.
When asked by RacingNews365 whether he needed the Japanese driver to close the performance gap to help him in going up against the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, Verstappen argued fixing the car remains the best solution for his drivers' championship defence.
"Well, I think as a team you want both cars in the best possible position," the 27-year-old replied to the media present. "But look at 2023, for example.
"If we have a good car, you will be fast and then it doesn't matter what the other teams do in terms of strategy because you will beat them. We have to make sure that we put ourselves back in that position.
"At the moment, sometimes it works – in Imola, it was fine. When the car is working and you are comfortable with what you’re doing, then it doesn't matter what the other strategies are from the other cars or teams around you because you just follow your own strongest strategy."
Nonetheless, Verstappen did concede the target will always remain to be in a position to finish first and second each week and that Red Bull was in a "tough" place at the moment.
"But naturally, as a team, we want to finish one-two every single weekend – but that's tough at the moment," he reflected.
"We have very strong competition. McLaren is doing a great job. So we just keep working, trying to improve – for myself, for Yuki – and we’ll see in the coming races what we can do."
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