Red Bull reveal major flaw behind Monaco qualifying misery

Dr Helmut Marko has revealed a significant problem Red Bull is dealing with as its rivals continuing to gain ground.

According to the 81-year-old, there is a disconnect between what the simulator is telling the Milton Keynes outfit compared with what is actually happening on track.

The Red Bull adviser highlighted that issues running over kerbs is causing problems for the team - something which has affected it all weekend in Monaco.

"The season started with the idea that it was going to be a great success," Marko told Sky Sports Germany. "And then there was the first disappointment in Australia. 

"But the fundamental problem is not the circuits. It's that the correlation between the simulator and the track doesn't work. On the simulator we drive over the kerbstones without any problems."

Hoping to find form at 'real circuits'

Despite enduring a difficult Friday in Imola, Max Verstappen recovered to take pole position. He held on to win the race, but had to deal with a late charge from McLaren's Lando Norris.

Team-mate Sergio Perez, meanwhile, failed to get through to Q3, and started P11. He could only recover to eighth-place on the Sunday.

However, that would be just the start of the team's woes. After another disappointing Friday around the streets of Monte Carlo, Perez was knocked out of qualifying in Q1. He will start the grand prix from P18.

Verstappen, on the other hand, did manage avoid early elimination, but he could only claim P6 on the grid after aborting his final push lap - ending his run of eight consecutive grand prix poles, which ran back to November.

"And then to use a phrase of Max's, the car bounces like a kangaroo, and that's the problem," Marko explained, borrowing Verstappen's comments from during practice. "And that's already shown in the set-up for Miami and partly in Imola. So we have to start with that.

"But we have to make sure that when we get to real circuits, like Barcelona, that we hopefully find our old form there," he concluded, leaving just a little hope of improvement for the constructors' champions.