Verstappen shares emotions after shock Red Bull problem

Max Verstappen has revealed that he is "very proud" of how Red Bull recovered from its shock mid-season problems with the RB20.  The Milton Keynes-based team encountered several issues with its 2024 car from mid-season until the closing rounds, to the extent that Verstappen suffered a 10-race winless streak.  Based on how quickly Red Bull and the Dutchman came out of the blocks last year, he was expected to cruise to a fourth consecutive F1 drivers' title.  Whilst he still won the title, he was pushed by Lando Norris as a result of the problems Red Bull faced, making it a championship Verstappen values highly. "It definitely means a lot," Verstappen said on the Talking Bulls podcast. "It's not been the easiest. I think for everyone in the team, a lot of people were just under pressure.  "We all wanted to do well, we came off a [2023] season where we basically dominated. I never expected it, of course, to be like that again.  "But at the same time, I also didn't expect it to be like it was in the middle of that season. But I'm very proud of everyone, how we all stuck together.  "We didn't panic, we always tried to find improvements on the car and just try to understand our issues. And I think we did that very well. We can be very proud of how we handled at all."

Red Bull attitude

Despite the visible problems with the RB20, Verstappen still managed to claim victories in São Paulo and Qatar.  However, some poor results were experienced, such as in Monza and Mexico City in particular. At times, Verstappen was very critical of the car with his frustration having been evident. The Italian Grand Prix saw the driver refer to the RB20 as a "monster". Whilst Verstappen showed his annoyance on occasion at the situation Red Bull faced, he was left impressed by how the team reacted. "I mean, there were some races where everyone was disappointed, not happy," added Verstappen. "But instead of just sitting there, not doing anything, and just being upset with it, with the situation, everyone got to work and that was great to see."