Verstappen: If we continue like this, I won't be champion next year

Verstappen succeeded in clinching his fourth consecutive Formula 1 championship in the 2024 season, but it was a tough mission to accomplish as Red Bull lost their way with the development of the RB20 since the upgrade for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

And after suffering a woeful weekend at Monza, that was the weekend Red Bull found their way out of the woods, according to team boss Christian Horner.

And while Red Bull seemed to improve towards the end, with Max Verstappen famously winning in Brazil and then in Qatar, defending the title wouldn't have been possible for the Dutchman had he not won seven out of ten of the first races of the season, which gave him a buffer Lando Norris in the McLaren couldn't overcome.

Speaking in the interview with Dutch publication De Telegraaf, Verstappen warned that Red Bull need to find a solution to the issues that marred the RB20 over the winter, or else he will not be able to defend his title, which is logical, as McLaren, Ferrari, and even Mercedes would be challenging them from the beginning of 2025 based on how the 2024 season unraveled.

Verstappen said: "If we continue like this, I won't be champion next year. It's as simple as that. We really need to make steps to be competitive next season. We all know that.

"I trust the team that they can fix the balance issues from last season. Certain things that we couldn't adjust last year will be changed for next year.

"We know that we need to be better over the kerbs, bumps and in the slow corners. Those are generally our weaknesses. If we are still beaten then, it will be based on pure speed.

"I always keep the pressure on, also on myself. I try not to think too lightly about things. At one point the car was barely driveable. There was no more to get out of it than this," the Red Bull ace maintained.

And while Horner claimed the team had a eureka moment after Monza, Verstappen claimed it was his input from that weekend that helped the team realize where the problem was, as after that they started from scratch.

He revealed: "All plans for new parts, which were to come after that [Monza], could be thrown into the bin. The team actually started from scratch after that. Before that, they couldn't find the exact problem.

"I saw a couple of graphics when we were looking at the data. I saw certain aerodynamic shifts in how we entered the corners, turned into corners and also in terms of ride heights.

"It was different from last year's car. I said, ‘Hey, it's very clear that this and this is the problem, isn't it?’ That turned out to be right, I heard later on.

"I hadn't seen those lines and those graphics before. I then said that it was quite clear what we had to work on, because the engineers obviously know exactly what had been changed from last year's car.

"At the beginning of last season we were still winning our races convincingly, but I felt even then that the balance of the car did not feel the way I wanted it to.

"But, back then, we still had a big lead over the other teams, who might not have had a very good winter," Verstappen reckoned.

Verstappen mentioned that the RB20 suffered over kerbs and slow corners, and early on in the season it was revealed that the FIA had ordered Red Bull to change what was dubbed as the "Magic Brake".

That was reportedly a torque vectoring system that helped counteract the slow-speed corner understeer inherent in today’s heavy ground effect-reliant cars.

Verstappen did miss to hint at that saying: "Things happened in the background that meant we had no chance at all in certain races. I know that for sure, but no one will ever admit that."