Red Bull Faces ‘Fundamental’ Issues: Christian Horner Analyzes Struggles After Disappointing Italian GP Qualifying

Christian Horner hints at a major problem for Red Bull following the qualifying session for the Italian Grand Prix.

"We are examining all possibilities. Last weekend, we tested an older specification to determine if it could resolve any of the concerns."

Christian Horner has admitted that there is a fundamental issue affecting Red Bull's performance on the track after the team faced difficulties during the F1 qualifying at the Italian Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez managed to qualify in seventh and eighth positions respectively for Sunday's race at Monza.

This is Verstappen's lowest qualifying position since the Singapore Grand Prix in 2023, where he did not secure a spot in the top 10.

Red Bull's streak of disappointing outcomes persists, putting their lead in the F1 constructors' championship in jeopardy.

Interestingly, Verstappen's fastest lap during qualifying was achieved on worn tires in the second session, and it was four-tenths of a second quicker than his best lap in the third session.

Addressing Red Bull's challenges, Horner explained to Sky Sports: "It's quite difficult. We're really puzzled by how we managed to clock a 1m19.6s on used tires and then couldn't improve on a 1m20s with fresh tires; the car's balance just isn't right."

His remarks indicate that there's an underlying issue we're not fully grasping. We need to figure out why we could achieve a good lap time with the older tyres, but couldn't come close to that performance with two sets of new tyres.

"In the second qualifying session, the situation seemed manageable despite the handling issues Max mentioned. However, in the third qualifying session, there was a noticeable problem. While other teams were able to improve their performance with new tires, we fell significantly behind. We need to figure out the issue promptly."

Seeking to address their problems, Red Bull decided to use an earlier version of their floor design during the most recent race at Zandvoort.

Nevertheless, it didn't make a significant difference for Verstappen, who used the older floor design and ended up more than 22 seconds behind the leader.

Horner mentioned, "We are examining all possibilities. Last weekend, we tested an older specification to determine if it would resolve any of the problems."

"The truth was that we continued to experience the same handling traits and problems that we had with the earlier model from the start of the year. There was a significant amount of data for the team to analyze, but it was challenging to comprehend."

"We have to tackle this issue promptly. It's evident that McLaren has progressed considerably in the recent races. Currently, we're trailing behind Ferrari and Mercedes at this track. There's much work ahead. Although the race points will be decided tomorrow, beginning in seventh and eighth positions is going to be challenging."

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