Formula 1 was getting ready for its sixth race of the 2024 season in Miami just four months ago, and Red Bull looked like it couldn’t be stopped. They were the best on the track, winning four of the five races they ran and finishing in first and second place three times. After looking at the last two seasons, Red Bull had an amazing 35 wins out of 38 races. Max Verstappen looked like he was going to win his fourth title in a row.

The environment has changed a lot, though. Lando Norris of McLaren is slowly catching up to Max Verstappen in the drivers’ title. In the manufacturers’ championship, Red Bull is ahead of McLaren by only six points. Once it looked like Verstappen couldn’t be beat, but now he seems lost. He has tried six times and failed to win a race. His radio messages show that he is very upset. At this point, his best chance may be that McLaren’s indecision costs them the title. This is unusual, but not impossible in F1, where anything can happen.

At the Italian Grand Prix, Red Bull was clearly the fourth-fastest car, so Verstappen didn’t have high hopes. Red Bull’s slide was clear on both a high-downforce track in Zandvoort and a low-downforce track in Monza. It was clear: Red Bull is no longer in charge.

After placing sixth in what he called a “damage limitation” effort, Verstappen said, “At the moment, both championships are not realistic.” “There’s no reason.” The best car ever was the one we had last year, but we’ve turned it into a monster, so we need to fix it. In six to eight months, we went from having the best car to not being able to drive at all. That doesn’t make sense. The car needs to be turned over.

1 The Fall: Adrian Newey’s Departure and Problems with Design

What’s wrong with Red Bull? One can’t ignore the quick drop and the fact that it might have something to do with Adrian Newey’s exit as their design genius. The Chief Technology Officer of Red Bull, who was a key part of their success, said he was leaving the team after 19 years of service. Newey said he needed to rest, but there were also reports that he had a fight with Christian Horner, the team’s director.

Red Bull has only won three of the last eleven races since Newey left. Verstappen hasn’t won a race since June 23 in Barcelona. “I always said I would have preferred if Adrian stayed, but it’s not about that now,” Verstappen said in response to Newey’s exit, but the results suggest otherwise.

Red Bull’s success depended on Newey’s knowledge of how to use the current ground-effect rules to their advantage. Since he left, it looks like the team has had a hard time figuring out how to best grow the RB20. At the same time, their rivals, especially McLaren, Ferrari, and Mercedes, have slowly caught up. These competitors have finally mastered this breed of cars by releasing useful mid-season updates that have paid off big time.

For example, McLaren added a lot of new features at Zandvoort and won, and Ferrari did the same thing at Monza. On the other hand, Red Bull’s improvements have not had the expected effect. At Imola in May, a series of changes caused the speed to drop noticeably. The RB20 doesn’t seem to be able to get any better.

1: Sergio Perez’s Problems and His Uneven Performance

It looks like the main problem is with the RB20’s unstable balance. Verstappen said that his car had a lot of understeer during qualifying in Monza. This showed that there was a bigger problem with how the tires were prepared and how the temperatures were set. Next up are street courses with lots of turns in Baku and Singapore. These problems are expected to be shown even more clearly.

Even worse for Red Bull is that Verstappen’s troubled partner Sergio Perez isn’t doing well. He has said that driving the RB20 is like steering a “boat.” The Mexican driver hasn’t finished in the top five since Miami, and before the summer break, it was said that he might be fired. But Horner decided to keep Perez because he had faith in him, even though he had a string of bad results and had to leave qualifying early.

This choice makes no sense for a team that is known for being cruel and taking risks. It’s bad for Red Bull’s hopes in the constructors’ title that Perez is seventh in the standings and 160 points behind Verstappen. Also, Perez’s behavior at the Italian Grand Prix, where he kicked up dirt while trying to help Verstappen in practice, made their chances even worse.

Will Red Bull Get Better?

The 2024 season is still going strong with eight races and three sprint races left. However, Red Bull’s hold on both the drivers’ and manufacturers’ titles is in danger for the first time in years. The issue is not only McLaren’s comeback, but also Red Bull’s seeming lack of progress. It looks like Red Bull has reached a plateau in their growth, while their rivals are still making progress.

Even if McLaren doesn’t officially back Norris as their No. 1 driver, the drivers’ title could still go to Verstappen. After some bad luck, McLaren seems ready to take the next step. With 232 points still up for grabs and Verstappen’s lead cut down to 62 points, Norris and McLaren are closing in.

When it comes to teams, McLaren is only six points behind Red Bull and looks like it will pass them in Azerbaijan in two weeks. If things change in this way, Red Bull will not be in first place for the first time since early 2022.

The Way Ahead

Since Red Bull’s power is in doubt, their plant in Milton Keynes is probably working extra hours to find answers. The next few weeks will be very important as they try to get back to the form that made them the best F1 team ever. If they fail, it could be the end of an age and the start of a new one in Formula 1, where Red Bull will have to fight to get back to the top.