Verstappen sets Red Bull benchmark as 'every little detail matters'

Max Verstappen has issued a new standard for Red Bull, insisting the team can no longer afford to make errors.

The 26-year-old feels that whilst the fight at the sharp end of F1 is keeping the Milton Keynes squad honest, it must eradicate mistakes as "every little detail matters now" in an increasingly competitive field.

McLaren, Ferrari and recently Mercedes' improvements has meant Red Bull must battle harder for wins now then at any point over the past two years. Not since the early stages of the 2022 season has the team found itself with a rival capable of winning races consistently. Right now it looks to have at least two, maybe three.

With the performance gap to the teams behind smaller, and its margin for error reduced, Verstappen is clear that Red Bull does not have room for mistakes, in what he contends will be a closer fight across the rest of the season - even if the races are more entertaining.

"It's definitely more challenging," the Dutchman told media including RacingNews365 when quizzed on whether the increased competition made things more exciting for him.

"And I think also with, of course, how the race [the Canadian Grand Prix] was, it was very exciting in general. And it definitely keeps us on our toes. We cannot afford to make mistakes or tiny mistakes anymore. So, yeah, every little detail matters now."

'We always want the two cars to be up there'

After the Monaco Grand Prix, where Verstappen and Red Bull struggled throughout, the gap in the constructors' championship stood at just 24 points to the nearest rival Ferrari. 

In Montreal, due to the Italian team's dismal weekend, and even though Sergio Perez failed to score for the second round in a row, Red Bull was able to extend its lead to 49 points.

"I knew that I had to score big, of course, to not let the other teams catch up a lot," explained Verstappen on how competitive he thinks the constructors' championship battle will be moving forward, before excusing his team-mate's second successive "one-off".

"But I do think at the end of the day, as long as you keep winning, so you score 25 points, even if the others finish P2, P3, you don't really lose out too much. And then you can afford sometimes these one-offs."

However, despite having to again fight at the front without a rear gunner in Canada, the three-time drivers' champion has confidence Perez will be back in the mix soon. 

"Of course, naturally, we always want the two cars to be up there," added Verstappen. "And I also do not doubt that that will change very soon again.

"So, yeah, we just need to work on our car, to be honest, to make it a bit easier to drive also, probably, to feel a bit more comfortable. And then I'm sure that we have both cars back up there like we had at the beginning of the season."