Can I have my PU performance back?

Championship leader Max Verstappen endured a rare difficult weekend in Italy where his Red Bull was simply not on the same level of performance as McLaren, Mercedes or Ferrari.

For only the second time in 2024, Verstappen finished a grand prix outside of the top five positions. It was his worst finish since the Monaco Grand Prix – another weekend where Red Bull struggled for pace, in which he also finished in sixth.

Verstappen’s Italian Grand Prix radio

Jump to:

“I got a penalty for that”
“Car behind now Checo”
“My front-left doesn’t look ‘amazing’”
“Could be racing Ocon”
“If we push more I’m going to kill my tyre”
“Can I have my PU performance back?”
“The battery is not charging”
“Can the people in the background please be awake?”
“This power is very slow”
“Sorry we couldn’t give you a better car”

“I got a penalty for that”

Starting from seventh on the grid on hard tyres among a sea of rivals on mediums, Verstappen had an eventful opening lap. He ran behind Lewis Hamilton at the start, then overtook the other Mercedes of George Russell through Curva Grande, who had run off at the first corner and been forced to take the escape road.

Entering the Roggia chicane, Verstappen took the outside line and found himself squeezed by Hamilton under braking. As he rounded the corner, he was then clipped by Russell on his right-rear, which broke the endplate off Russell’s front wing.

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“Car behind now Checo”

Sitting in sixth, the highest-place runner on hard tyres, Verstappen knew he would have to run further into the race before stopping than the five cars ahead of him. He largely matched the pace of the cars around him as Red Bull observed those on medium tyres were experiencing graining on their left-front tyres around the clockwise circuit – something teams had encountered in practice on the resurfaced track.

“My front-left doesn’t look ‘amazing’”

Although his tyres were a harder compound than his rivals ahead of him, it was soon Verstappen’s turn to experience some tyre wear of his own. While Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton and Oscar Piastri pitted ahead of him, Verstappen continued on and eventually moved into the lead when Carlos Sainz Jnr was the last of the medium starters to pit.

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“Could be racing Ocon”

By lap 21, Verstappen led ahead of his team mate, around three seconds behind him. But it was soon time for him to make his first stop. Red Bull fitted another set of hard tyres onto his car, committing to a two-stop. However a slight delay with his right-rear wheel change cost Verstappen more time, to his frustration.

“If we push more I’m going to kill my tyre”

With new hard tyres that were the same compound as the five cars ahead of him but several laps fresher, Verstappen was able to keep the same pace as them. However, he soon received an instruction to adjust a setting on his car, before being informed that Red Bull had reduced his power unit output for an undisclosed reason.

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“Can I have my PU performance back?”

Ahead, Norris was the first of the cars ahead of make his second stop. He rejoined on a second set of hard tyres, a few seconds behind Verstappen. The Red Bull driver was feeling happier with his second set of tyres compared to his starting set and did not get overtaken quickly by the McLaren.

“The battery is not charging”

As soon as the McLaren passed him, Verstappen was called in to the pits at the end of lap 42 for medium compound tyres. As he left the pits, in sixth position, Red Bull helped to prepare Verstappen for an attempt on the fastest lap of the race with his first flying lap on his new tyres.

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“Can the people in the background please be awake?”

With a new fastest lap of the race, Verstappen was 13 seconds adrift of Hamilton ahead of him. Of more pressing concern was Russell behind him, in what was likely to be a faster Mercedes, as Verstappen had to be careful not to take too much out of his mediums before the end of the race. That was the reason for his testy message, played on the world feed, reminding the team to stay sharp.

“This power is very slow”

Entering the final laps, Verstappen was managing to keep his tyres in a good condition and Russell at bay at the same time. But when Aston Martin decided to pit Lance Stroll towards the back of the field for new soft tyres, Red Bull became concerned that their fastest lap may be in jeopardy.

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“Sorry we couldn’t give you a better car”

At the end of a difficult weekend where Red Bull lacked the pace of their rivals, Verstappen reached the chequered flag in sixth place, just 1.7 seconds ahead of Russell. He was almost 38 seconds behind winner Charles Leclerc and had dropped eight points to closest driver Norris in the championship, with the McLaren driver taking the fastest lap point away on the final lap of the race.

“2024 Italian Grand Prix”

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