The “really worrying thing” about the RB20’s demise pointed out to Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen is “angry” and “frustrated” but has been told that his woes will worsen if Red Bull’s problems continue into next year.

The F1 champion started this season as dominant as he ended last year, but his RB20 has experienced a shocking slump at recent rounds.

Now unusually winless in six rounds and with his drivers’ championship lead shrinking, Verstappen’s travails at last weekend’s Italian Grand Prix have been debated.

“For team morale it’s awful to finish 37 seconds behind the race leader, with your teammate a further two places and 13 seconds further back,” Natalie Pinkham told the Sky F1 podcast.

“This was a race where he took his 10th consecutive win last year. What a difference a year makes.

“For Max, the frustration will be if a disconnect between him and the team emerges.

“If he’s giving feedback to the team, as early as China, saying ‘we are going down the wrong route, there are fundamental problems with this car’ then you can’t expect to iron those out.

“It’s gone from dominant to a monster in less than half a season. It must be frustrating for him.

“He’s not used to not winning, so he’s digging deep. He is taking great results, like Zandvoort, in spite of the car, not because of the car.

“We are seeing a different type of drive from Verstappen. He is digging deep, doing the best he can with one arm behind his back, with limited machinery.

“We are learning about him as a driver but he will get frustrated.

“The really worrying thing is if this inevitably carries on into 2025.”

'You see him getting angry a lot'

After doubt amid Red Bull’s internal chaos - which engulfed Christian Horner, Jos Verstappen and Helmut Marko - Verstappen has committed to staying with the team next season.

But, Mercedes’ Toto Wolff has not stopped mentioning Verstappen as a possible future target.

For now, Nico Rosberg has noticed the visible anger displayed by Verstappen.

“He will be shocked. You can see him getting angry a lot. After the slow pitstop in Monza he was hitting the steering wheel in the race,” Rosberg said.

“He is getting angry and impatient because he is only used to winning.

“The whole team is impatient, the stress levels rise and the panic rises.

“It’s frustrating because they don’t know what’s going on, they don’t understand.

“In Zandvoort they still finished second fair and square. They had a good car, only beaten by Lando.

“Monza is a complete outlier so we shouldn’t focus too much on the performance deltas.

“Although, all the tracks coming up are outliers - Baku, Singapore…

“I still think he can race for second-place, maybe the odd win, in the next couple of races.”

Verstappen’s lead in the drivers’ standings has been cut to 62 points by Lando Norris.

Red Bull lead McLaren by just eight points in the constructors’.