Verstappen ponders 'make-or-break' Austin

Max Verstappen says he is unsure whether the United States Grand Prix is a "make or break" round for his drivers' title challenge and Red Bull's fight to retain the constructors' championship.

Heading to Austin, the Dutchman leads Lando Norris by 52 points and is firmly in control, despite McLaren evolving into the the current force in F1 over the course of 2024.

However, Red Bull's chances of winning a third-consecutive constructors' title are looking more ominous. Trailing the Woking team, which is aiming to take the crown for the first time since 1998, by 41 points, the Milton Keynes squad faces an uphill battle - particularly given the inconsistent form of Sergio Perez.

Whilst McLaren has made strides in performance, Red Bull has seemingly developed backwards. A quirk of the current regulations set, which is heavily-reliant on co-ordination between the aerodynamics of the car and its floor, is that balance is often more critical to lap time than pure points of downforce.

With the RB20 in particular, as RB20 has ported upgrades to it, it has become less balanced. Specifically, those updates have engineered in a disconnect between the front and the rear of the car.

The United States Grand Prix kicks off a run of six rounds in eight weeks to end the year and realistically a last chance to introduce crucial developments for the home stretch, something Red Bull must succeed in over the Autumn break.

"I don't know if it's make or break," Verstappen said to media including RacingNews365. "But from now on, of course, we want to make steps forward. 

"When or how it will arrive, I don't know yet, but we're just trying to get the balance back together."

After the issues with the RB20 came to a head at September's Italian Grand Prix, Red Bull has set about unwinding some of its failed upgrades, claiming it had, at least in part, established the root cause of the problem.

Verstappen pointed to a "small step" taken at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, despite the disappointing result, and the subsequent round in Singapore was undoubtedly encouraging for the team.

The 27-year-old finished over 20 seconds down the road from race-winner Norris, but second place was far more than he or the team had hoped to achieve heading into the weekend at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.

Now, as F1 heads to Texas, Red Bull must continue on that trajectory and avoid developing backwards, as it has done with prior upgrades.

Unlike the summer shutdown, work is permitted during the calendar gap between Singapore and Austin, and Verstappen was quick to highlight that any improvements with the RB20 will also pay dividends for 2025.

"I think Baku is already a small step forward, so we just need to continue that route," the three-time drivers' champion explained.

"Of course, in Singapore, you couldn't really do a lot from Baku, but hopefully with the two, three weeks that we have [during the Autumn break], we can make some further improvements.

"There's still a few more rounds left where I think we can improve the car, which will also help for next year."