David Coulthard’s honest assessment of out-of-form Red Bull

David Coulthard insists that Red Bull can rediscover their race-winning form this year.

The constructors’ champions have lost their status as F1’s dominant force at the midway stage of this season.

Drivers’ champion Max Verstappen is winless at the past six grand prix and described the RB20 as “a monster”, a remarkable fall from grace.

Red Bull ambassador and ex-F1 driver Coulthard said to Channel 4 last week at Monza after qualifying: “They are definitely not as hot as they were. The lap time doesn’t lie.

“They are on the back foot. The upgrades haven’t worked.

“They are no longer the benchmark in terms of outright performance. They know that. They can’t hide from it.

“They need to get the group of people that have designed a brilliant race car last year - a car which has won seven races this year, but the upgrades aren’t working - they need to find something.”

Adrian Newey, Red Bull’s chief technology officer, is among the group who designed the RB20 but has not had a race-to-race role since Miami because he is set to leave.

Christian Horner and Helmut Marko have dismissed the notion that the team’s downturn is due to Newey’s impending exit.

Last weekend at the Italian Grand Prix, Verstappen’s woes were clear to see. He qualified seventh and finished the race sixth.

Coulthard reacted to Verstappen’s qualy: “That just shows the difficulty he had. He never got his last two qualifying laps right.

“That is very unusual for Max. He might make a mistake on one - but on both? To be at the same lap time as Checo?”

Verstappen punched his steering wheel in frustration at Monza before Red Bull admitted they did not know the cause of the RB20’s slump in performance.

“We know he’s feisty, he’s got a lot of passion,” Coulthard said.

“When you’re winning, everybody loves you. When things aren’t going well, that raw passion comes through again.”

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

More problematically for Red Bull, their lead in the constructor’s championship is now just eight points ahead of McLaren.

Given McLaren’s form, they are now arguably the favourites to take that crown this season.

But Coulthard insisted about Red Bull’s hopes: “They can control it. But they need to unlock some potential in that car.

“The upgrades haven’t worked. But it’s within their capabilities. They have still won seven grands prix this year.”