Dejected Max Verstappen baffled as to how his dominant Red Bull car has become 'a monster'

MONZA, Italy (AP) — What a difference a year makes.

Even Max Verstappen is at a loss as to how he went from having such a dominant Formula 1 car last season to one that he now describes as “a monster.”

The Red Bull driver had a weekend to forget at the Italian Grand Prix as he could only qualify in seventh place and went on to finish sixth in Sunday’s race.

“Last year we had a great car, which was the most dominant car ever. And we basically turned it into a monster,” a dejected Verstappen said. “So we have to turn it around.”

Last year at Monza, Verstappen secured a record 10th straight win in a season where the final outcome was never in doubt.

Now the three-time defending F1 champion is without a victory in six straight races, his longest winless run since 2020, and is seeing his lead in the drivers’ standings being chipped away by Lando Norris race by race.

There was some consolation on Sunday as Norris could only finish third, behind his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc — who delighted the passionate red-clad tifosi with a win at Ferrari’s home track after an audacious one-stop strategy.

Nevertheless, Norris trimmed the gap to Verstappen to 62 points, while McLaren moved to just eight points behind Red Bull in the constructors’ championship.

“At the moment both championships are not realistic,” Verstappen said.

The Dutch driver added that he had given as much feedback as he could to the team in recent weeks but “unfortunately I don’t have a degree in engineering or aerodynamics.”

“Now it’s up to the team to come with a lot of changes with the car because we basically went from a very dominant car to an undrivable car in the space of, what, six to eight months?” Verstappen continued.

“So that is very weird for me. And we need to really turn the car upside down.”

There are eight races left, including ones in Austin, Texas, Mexico City and Abu Dhabi — three tracks on which Verstappen has triumphed in each of the last three years.

“It doesn’t matter. With how we are at the moment, we are bad everywhere,” Verstappen said.

Norris could have been even closer to Verstappen if McLaren had intervened in the final few laps, and ordered its drivers to swap positions as Piastri’s chances of chasing Leclerc down for victory faded.

That would have handed Norris what could prove to be a vital three points in the title race.

“I’m not here just to beg for someone to let me pass, that’s not what I’m here for,” Norris said. “I’m here to race, he (Piastri) drove a better race than me so I finished third and that’s where I deserved to finish.”

But when pressed, Norris acknowledged that he would prefer the team to make his title push the priority.

“I mean I would love it, but it’s not up to me,” he said. “It’s a tough one, obviously I wouldn’t say we’re running out of time but time is going away slowly and I still believe we can do it. The pace is obviously great. I still believe we probably have close to if not the best car again today.

“I don’t know, it’s not for me to decide, it’s for the team … when you’re fighting for a championship you want every little thing and I’m doing everything I can. The best way simply is just to win the race and I didn’t do that today because of some silly things.”

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Daniella Matar, The Associated Press