Max Verstappen has labelled his Red Bull "a monster" after the team struggled its way through a disastrous weekend at the Italian Grand Prix.
The Dutchman left Monza with just eight points after finishing sixth and with his drivers' title lead trimmed to 62 points over Lando Norris.
Having qualified his RB20 seventh, with Sergio Perez just behind in eight, the whole team was in damage limitation mode.
However, despite McLaren only being able to turn a one-two start into a two-three finish, Red Bull's constructors' championship advantage was slashed from 30 points to just eight. To make matters worse, Ferrari now sits just 39 points behind.
After the race, Verstappen was asked about the affect that losing Adrian Newey might be having on the Milton Keynes team, something Helmut Marko had been outspoken on earlier in the weekend.
I've always said that I would have liked for Adrian to stay. Always," The three-time drivers' champion told media including RacingNews365.
"But it's not about that now, because last year we had a great car, which was the most dominant car ever, and we basically turned it into a monster. So we have to turn it around."
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Verstappen sees 'no excuse'
Whilst McLaren has delivered multiple successful updates to develop the MCL38 into the car to beat in F1, Red Bull has been unable to keep pace.
Having once held a healthy performance advantage over its rivals, the RB20 was the fourth-quickest car at Monza.
Not only have others, chiefly McLaren, made gains, Red Bull has taken a wrong turn with its own upgrade path.
The more it has added, the worse the balance has become - something Verstappen wants to see corrected, with the 26-year-old calling for the team to "work flat out" to alleviate the issues.
"It doesn't matter how many weeks," Verstappen replied when asked if he knew how long the process might take.
"We have to just keep pushing and work flat out. There's no excuse."
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