Verstappen voices Red Bull F1 upgrade doubt after 'unknown'

Max Verstappen is unsure about the potential impact Red Bull's critical United States Grand Prix upgrade will actually have.

After winning seven of the first 10 races, Verstappen has not won in eight grands prix since Spain in June, with the RB20 being labelled as "undrivable" and a "monster" after a particularly tough weekend in Italy.

Red Bull has lost the lead of the F1 constructors' championship to McLaren, but Verstappen still enjoys a 52-point buffer in the drivers' standings over Lando Norris, with the fast part of a big upgrade introduced in Azerbaijan. 

Owing to the time required to design and produce a big upgrade, most of the parts are being added to the machine in Austin ahead of the US GP, but Verstappen is unsure of the impact they will have having not driven with them on the simulator.

"I actually haven't tried it [in the simulator], so let's see," Verstappen told media including RacingNews365 of the upgrades.

"We didn't have a lot of time to really test everything, but we'll see how it goes. To be honest, I don't know at the moment what it will give.

"I just know that when I jump in the car, I try to do the best I can and when the car is capable of good results, I'll deliver the results. 

"When it is not, then it will be a bit more difficult, and of course, naturally I like to win races and championships, but if it happens, it happens, and if if doesn't, it doesn't. It is how life is."

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Red Bull's F1 upgrade

To make matters harder for Red Bull, it will have just 60 minutes of practice to get up to speed with the new parts before the first competitive session of the weekend in sprint qualifying. 

On sprint weekends, there is a single free practice session before sprint qualifying, with the remainder of the on-track action including the sprint itself, grand prix qualifying and then the race itself. 

It means should Red Bull fail to unlock understanding from its new package immediately, it will be hamstrung throughout the Austin weekend, with little opportunity at upcoming races to rectify the issues, with Mexico City's high altitude causing problems and another sprint in Sao Paulo. 

Verstappen admits there is a lot that can go wrong.

"You have to rely more on data, then because it is one session, it is very hard, because you just start with the car, that is the package," he added.

"You then try to balance it, find the best set-up on it and then rely on the data from the engineers and if they are happy with the upgrade or not. 

"There is a lot that can go well or can go wrong in the six races and three sprints, so nothing is a guarantee from both sides. 

"I just like from race weekend to race weekend because otherwise, you are just putting unnecessary thoughts in your head, which also costs energy, which I don't want to waste, I'm thinking too much about racing."