What needs to “change” for Red Bull is ending Verstappen’s errors

“Now we've lost victory, fastest lap, and pole position,” Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko told Sky Sports Germany after last weekend’s Portuguese Grand Prix.

“All good things come in threes. I hope that's the end of it. Something has to change. Either you make a boundary with kerbs or you make gravel or something. If you go out, there's an automatic penalty.”

So far, so baffling. Max Verstappen had just finished second behind dominant winner Lewis Hamilton, but Red Bull was annoyed he had lost the bonus point for fastest lap, for running too wide out of the penultimate corner and sliding beyond the kerbs. The Portimao stewards did exactly what Marko suggests above and deleted the lap. The decision followed the instruction of Formula 1 race director Michal Masi’s updated event notes, which informed the teams that spot was under scrutiny for track limits ahead of FP3.

Somewhat amusingly, Red Bull and Verstappen were only in this position because of a Mercedes own goal. The Black Arrows squad had decided to bring Valtteri Bottas in – such was his advantage over Sergio Perez in the closing stages – to chase the fastest lap Perez held at that point. But it acted one lap too early, as Red Bull had time to bring Verstappen in for his own, doomed, attempt to grab the extra point on the final lap. It’s not an error Mercedes will likely make again given Toto Wolff called it “a stupid moment”.

But the number of visible errors the Mercedes squad (including its drivers, with Lewis Hamilton botching the safety car restart and Bottas over-defending against his team-mate in what became the race winning move) made across the sessions that mattered in Portugal were essentially matched by Verstappen alone.

He lost a time good enough for pole by going beyond track limits at the fast Turn 4 left that leads onto Portimao’s back straight. But given he was catching an oversteer snap at a place where the wind was causing havoc for the drivers all weekend, it’s perhaps harsh to put this down to a mistake. The bigger problem was failing to replicate the time on his second run – although, again, Verstappen does have a point about the traffic he encountered late in that final Q3 lap.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Then there was the pair of moments Verstappen had in quick succession while running through the penultimate corner that allowed Hamilton to close in and retake second place. Plus, the last-lap fumble at the same spot that (rightly) cost Verstappen the bonus point.

Again, there’s some sympathy for Verstappen given the difficulties the low-grip surface and gusty conditions combined to produce last weekend. But the errors, tiny as they are, are starting to mount up.

PLUS: Verstappen exclusive: Why lack of car-racing titles won't hurt Red Bull's ace 

Those logged at Portimao stand beside the slip off the road while battling Hamilton in Bahrain, putting two wheels on the grass at the Tamburello chicane exit and losing Imola pole, and so nearly losing the lead at that race’s red flag restart (a mistake that ultimately had no consequences).

The Portimao result was far from bad for Red Bull. Despite Mercedes’ insistence earlier this season that it expected last weekend’s venue to hand its rival an advantage, the W12 appeared much happier than it had previously, particularly in Bahrain

At this point it’d be fair to point out that Red Bull does have some cause for gripes about track limits – as tedious as that debate is overall.

Perez was furious that Lando Norris wasn’t ordered to give fourth place back after the safety car restart last weekend, as he felt the McLaren driver had put all four wheels over the Turn 4 exit kerb (and therefore gained a lasting advantage) before pulling alongside to pass into the subsequent hairpin. The onboards from Norris’s car and the following Carlos Sainz Jr appear to support this position.

"That was actually reported by Red Bull during the race and was reviewed," explained Masi, who, it should be noted was incorrectly asked about the legality of Norris’s move at the hairpin, which wasn’t the issue.

Masi continued: "No, Lando did not overtake Sergio at Turn 4 outside of the track. It was a passing manoeuvre under brakes into Turn 5 at the end of a DRS zone."

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL35M, Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB16B

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

This all followed the track limits debate in Bahrain, which seemed to leave a certain amount of frustration at both Red Bull and Mercedes. But in the former’s case, the continuing anger about track limits goes over another, probably more crucial, problem.

PLUS: How Verstappen's Bahrain mistake can only make him stronger

The Portimao result was far from bad for Red Bull. Despite Mercedes’ insistence earlier this season that it expected last weekend’s venue to hand its rival an advantage, the W12 appeared much happier than it had previously, particularly in Bahrain. The cooler temperatures played a part, but Mercedes was utterly dominant in Portugal in 2020 and Red Bull was right with it this time. Verstappen defeated Bottas on merit, with no startline gifts at play, although it should be noted that the Finn’s slower pitstop gave Verstappen a handy second back to exploit when he caught Bottas on warmer hards a few moments later.

If Verstappen can finally be perfect, then that might just make the difference in equalling the score against Hamilton

But it could have been more. There’s a lingering feeling that the result might have been different had Verstappen started from pole, or not allowed Hamilton back into position to attack early on, with Red Bull team boss Christian Horner highlighting his strong pace in clean air.

Hamilton is making mistakes in 2021 too. But, so far, he is winning the “fine-margin”/“marginal-gain”/whatever cliche required to describe their tight fight at the front. Although, had it not been for the red flag rules, Hamilton’s Imola off – the biggest mistake of any title contender so far this year – would have had bigger consequences.

On the cover of the 8 April edition of Autosport magazine, we asked: “Is Verstappen ready to end Hamilton’s reign?” A month on and the conclusion remains the same. He is ready to take on the new tests of title fight, but he’s not acing them all right now.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, 2nd position, and Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1st position, congratulate each other in Parc Ferme

Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images

There’s big challenge coming in this weekend’s Spanish GP. Mercedes’ only defeat in what has become something of a citadel event for it since 2014 came after its drivers took each other out and Verstappen scored a famous first win in the aftermath in 2016.

The Barcelona track will put the 2021 pecking order under a different sort of scrutiny given how familiar it is with the teams. Mercedes is wary of the surface “getting quite aggressive”, per its director of trackside engineering, Andrew Shovlin, and the resulting impact on rear tyre life maybe reawakening its Bahrain woes. That means the times for the final sector and its low-speed turns will be worth watching closely to see which of F1’s leading teams is doing best.

But given Red Bull’s 2020-2021 Portimao progress it is surely set to be very close again. If Verstappen can finally be perfect, then that might just make the difference in equalling the score against Hamilton.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B, 2nd position, crosses the line to the delight of his team

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images