Verstappen turns up the pressure, as Red Bull seeks answers

It comes at a sensitive moment for Red Bull. Max Verstappen’s future has once again become a major talking point, and the message from his camp is clear: the Dutchman wants to win, not fight in the midfield.

By now it’s a tried-and-tested formula. Whenever Verstappen wants to turn up the pressure, he, his father Jos Verstappen, and manager Raymond Vermeulen plant a story with Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf. The statements are always neat and clear—a clever way to put extra pressure via a friendly and accommodating journalist.

On Thursday, Vermeulen again delivered that message. He stated that Verstappen would prefer to remain with the Austrian team, but made it equally clear that the former world champion has no interest in spending his prime years outside the fight for victories and titles.

The implication was obvious: Red Bull must improve structurally on the technical side. The updates introduced at the Red Bull Ring are supposed to be part of that solution, but Friday practice did not provide the statement the team would have wanted.

Anyone who heard Verstappen after the second practice in scorching-hot Spielberg could hardly escape the impression that he was not fully satisfied with the new features on his RB22. “We’re lacking,” was Verstappen’s most striking conclusion.

Vermeulen’s interview and then their star driver’s assessment are the last things Red Bull wants to hear right now. The team had secretly hoped the car would immediately fly around the track in Austria, sending the signal that Verstappen had no reason to go anywhere else. But that kind of clarity won’t be coming this weekend in Spielberg either.

Meanwhile, team boss Laurent Mekies did everything he could during a press conference to project that he is not at all worried about Verstappen staying. “As I said a few weeks ago, we don’t ask Max every week if he’s staying. He’s here, he’s working hard with us and helping us find the right development direction for the car. Even this morning, he carried out extensive tests and analyses during the sessions to uncover every possible improvement. That’s why this (a farewell, ed.) is not a topic of discussion for us.”

All the more irritating for Red Bull is that precisely at such a crucial moment in the season, yet another key figure plans to move on. Paul Monaghan wants to make the switch to Cadillac.

Yet another Verstappen confidant leaving, another person with a mountain of knowledge. Another person you can’t just replace. And a development that could give Verstappen the ammunition to seek his fortune elsewhere.

And so these remain tense times for Red Bull and Verstappen - something that will undoubtedly continue - until the answers he wants have arrived.