Verstappen: If we don't change the car, it's going to be bad from now on

The triple Formula 1 Champion had a torrid afternoon on Sunday at Monza, failing to reach the podium for the fifth time this season (in the races he finished, not counting his DNF in Melbourne) and saw his lead over Lando Norris in the F1 Drivers' Championship slashed down by eight points to 62 points.

The race at Monza was the latest episode in Red Bull struggles with the RB20, the car that started the season as the benchmark on the F1 grid, only for the team to lose their way after an upgrade at Imola that failed to deliver the required progress, while McLaren went from strength to strength after the first major upgrade in Miami, a race Norris won.

Verstappen struggled in qualifying on Saturday, and while practice showed the RB20 was somehow decent on race pace, that did not transpire during the grand prix on Sunday.

Red Bull even messed up a pit stop for Verstappen as a stubborn rear right tyre refused to part ways with the RB20, while the executed a two-stop strategy, while Ferrari, the winners with Charles Leclerc, proved a one-stopper was possible.

Reflecting on his race, Verstappen told Sky Sports F1: "I thought we got the most out of the car in terms of position but not in the way we approached the race.

"The pace was not strong enough so we had to do our own race and had a bad pit stop," he pointed out. "I think strategy-wise we didn't optimize it. Some cars did a one-stop and we did a two-stop which was not the best."

The Dutchman also revealed he had a power unit issue, which did not help, he said: "For most of the race we couldn't run full engine power because of a problem so that doesn't help. All in all a bad race.

"It would still have been a bad race with full engine power but we may have been more competitive. We were in no man's land.

"If we don't change anything on the car it is all going to be bad from now on to the end of the season. We have a lot of work to do," Verstappen, warned in conclusion.

The Spanish Grand Prix, back in June, was the last time Verstappen won a race this season.