Red Bull faces a crucial challenge in the 2024 season finale. MaxVerstappen, championship leader with a 52-point advantage over Lando Norris, He spoke openly about the difficulties encountered by the Austrian team in recent months, particularly regarding the wind tunnel and the updates that will debut in Austin. The world champion's words highlighted the problems of correlation between wind tunnel data and actual performance on the track, but also the confidence that Red Bull can find its winning form again.
The old wind tunnel: the technical crux
In an interview reported by Motorsport, Max Verstappen commented on the problem related to the wind tunnel of Red Bull, stressing that, despite the'age of the infrastructure, it is not fair to consider it as the sole responsible for the team's recent difficulties. “Our wind tunnel is old, but until this year it had always done its job,” said Verstappen. The world champion explained how the correlation between the data collected in the tunnel and the results on track had not been up to par, forcing the team to intervene with new updates. However, Verstappen reiterated that it was not only the wind tunnel that caused the problems: “With these cars it is easy to take the wrong direction in development, it happened to us as well as other teams.”
The future of Verstappen and the team
In addition to the technical issues, Max Verstappen's future at Red Bull has been the subject of much speculation. Despite his contract with the Austrian team until 2028, the RB20's inconsistent performances and internal difficulties within the team have fueled rumours of a possible exit clause. However, Verstappen has stated to Motorsport.com to be focused on the present and on Red Bull's performance, downplaying the idea of a possible team change in the 2026. “I know there are options, but I’m not thinking about them right now. There are other things we want to improve,” said the Dutchman, making it clear that his main goal remains to keep Red Bull competitive.
Austin the first turning point for the final sprint
With six races remaining, including three Sprint races, Verstappen’s 52-point margin is still not enough to feel safe. Red Bull must prove it has found the right solutions to return to being competitive and defend the title.
Attention is now all focused on the United States Grand Prix, where Red Bull will introduce a package of significant updates that Max Verstappen has confidently commented on: “It will be a hectic weekend again, but we have some great memories in Austin and we are very happy to be back at this track. We have changed a lot of things on the car and I hope it suits this circuit better.” Austin will be a crucial test bench, not only for the race but also for the Sprint on Saturday. With very little time to test the new solutions, the first indications will have to be positive immediately to avoid a difficult weekend.