By Saajan Jogia
Max Verstappen’s father, Jos Verstappen, has criticized Red Bull for the drop in the RB21 F1 car’s performance despite a new floor upgrade. Ferrari and McLaren have brought effective upgrades that enhanced performance in the Austrian GP.Max qualified for P7 at the Red Bull Ring after his flying lap was aborted due to yellow flags. Sunday’s race ended for the four-time world champion with a DNF after Andrea Kimi Antonelli crashed into him on the opening lap.Not only Max, but his teammate Yuki Tsunoda has also been struggling with the RB21 car as he finished the race in the last position. The Japanese driver’s performance has notably dropped after being promoted to the Milton Keynes-based team early this season.Max called his father after the Austrian GP qualifying session, when Jos was attending to his rally driving duties in Belgium. Addressing the conversation they had on the phone, and pointing out Red Bull’s performance concerns, Jos told Race Express:”I have seen a little bit of qualifying.”I saw the last lap when he got the yellow flags, but it didn’t look fast enough.”I already heard it on the phone, he said, ‘Yeah, it’s just not good enough.'”Addressing the updates brought in by other teams, Jos added:”Ferrari has brought a good update, we know that McLaren are always at the front and who else is in between?”Mercedes is kind of in between, and I think the update that Red Bull brought doesn’t make that much of a difference.”You can see it in Tsunoda, too; he doesn’t even reach Q2. So yeah, the speed has fallen from there.”Red Bull’s performance challenges arrive amid swirling rumors about Max moving to Mercedes in the future. George Russell confirmed ongoing talks between the Red Bull driver and his team, but Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff revealed that there was a very low probability of Max racing for Mercedes next year. He said:”I think when you look at the situation we have with Kimi [Antonelli] and George, we have a perfect line-up that we very much enjoy, that we believe is the future.”But at the same time, there is a four-time World Champion that needs to decide what he’s going to do in the future, and that is just, as a team principal, you need to see where that is going.”But I think I give it a very little probability that this is going to happen.”When asked if the little probability was for 2026 or the long-term future, he said:”I don’t know what’s going to be in three or five years.”That’s why you need to look at what should be considered on the long term.”He added:”Nothing needs, in a way, to come towards favourable for us, because with George and Kimi is what we want to be and what we want to continue.”But, in order to plan right for the long term of the future, you’ve got to understand what other people do.”