After Max Verstappen completely dominated the season opener in Bahrain, finishing 22 seconds ahead of his teammate Sergio Perez, many fans expected 2024 to mirror the 2023 season with Red Bull being impossible to catch. 

However, six months on, the situation took an unexpected turn and now Red Bull is struggling to keep up with McLaren and sometimes even Ferrari or Mercedes. But how did that happen?

According to the Team Principal, Christian Horner, Red Bull was able to trace the problems all the way to the 2023 Spanish Grand Prix, which was exactly the point when Sergio Perez started having issues.

“We just didn’t take it so seriously because Max kept winning,” Horner told Auto Motor Und Sport.

For Verstappen, the Miami Grand Prix appeared to be a major turning point in performance, unrelated to McLaren's big upgrades introduced during the same weekend. However, the reigning world champion admits he had sensed problems at Red Bull well before they became evident to others.

“Early on I realised that the feeling was very different from last year's car in terms of balance," Verstappen told Motorsport.com.

“At that time our car was still a lot quicker than the others, or maybe I should say that the others were not so good back then, so at that stage we could still compensate for our difficulties. In the races after that it got worse and worse.

“At one point our car was just very difficult to drive and at the same time the others made real progress.”

Verstappen emphasized that he believes the toughest phase of the 2024 season is now behind him. With upgrades already implemented at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and more set for the United States Grand Prix, he feels Red Bull is back on an upward trajectory.

“I do think we are moving in the right direction now, it will take some time. You can't turn something like this around in one or two weeks. But I do think the team was happy with what they saw in Baku as well.”

Red Bull is gearing up to unveil a major upgrade package in less than two weeks at the US Grand Prix, which also includes a sprint race on Saturday. Reportedly, the team should introduce a new floor and a flexible front wing, similar to McLaren’s design.