Red Bull Racing could face a dramatic decline in Formula 1 similar to the slump of Benetton’s Post Michael Schumacher, if Max Barstappen leaves the team, warning Sky Sports F1 expert Karnchanduk.
The Red Bull RB21 did not dominate the McLaren MCL39 this year, but Verstappen was able to extract the biggest performance from the unpredictable and difficult to drive to win two races in the opening nine rounds of the season.
Verstappen’s performance was in stark contrast to his teammates, with Liam Lawson falling after just two races weekends and his replacement Yuki Tsunoda also bumping into the plateau after showing early promise.
The Dutchman has scored 137 of his previous 144 points, so there’s nothing Red Bull relied on Verstappen as much as the Constructors Championship.
Speculation about Verstappen’s future at Red Bull has been cooled in recent months, with the parties reiterating their commitments, but nevertheless, former Formula 1 driver Chandhok nevertheless worries about the underlying issues that plagu the Milton Keynes-based outfit.
Changduk drew a comparison with former Grand Prix team Benetton. This became a shadow of itself in 1996 when two-time world champion Schumacher left to join Ferrari.
“This is the seventh year we have the same conversation. Seven years,” Changduk told Sky TV.
“It’s a very long time as Daniel Ricciardo left at the end of 2018, and Red Bull hasn’t found a second driver who is competitive enough to score the results and points they need.
“These drivers that appeared, Pierre Gasliez and Alex Albons, all have achieved results with other cars, right?
“There are fundamental things that aren’t right for cars to design or function for other drivers. It’s so made-to-order for Max. It reminds me of the time of Michael Schumacher-Bennetton.
“Schumacher has left (since 1995), and the team has won one race in the next seven years and two World Championships in a row. That’s the risk (of Red Bull).
“If Max leaves, that whole operation will have to rethink how to design a car for others.”
He added: “The snow is not a pancake. This (with the second Red Bull driver) has been going on for a long time,” he said.
“Maybe it’s a sign. What is it? That you can decide yourself.”
Tsunoda impressed Red Bull by quickly adapting to RB21 over the weekend of his first race in Japan, and previously spent four seasons robbing his deal with his sister team Racing Bulls (formerly Alpha Tauri).
He finished within points in Bahrain, Miami and Imola, but has since struggled with finishing 17th and 13th place in Monaco and Barcelona, respectively.
2016 Formula One champion Nico Rosberg has sympathy for the tsunami and says the 25-year-old can perform better than the results suggest.
“I’ll let Max Verstappen be a teammate murderer without exaggerating. It’s scary to be a teammate next to that guy,” Rosberg told Sky.
“In Formula 1, you don’t get closer to more than a sixth. This is like a different category. Poor Yuki is in it for now and is really struggling. It’s really tough.
“I’m having a hard time figuring out why (the team can’t design the car to the taste of the Zonodah).
“It all points out that Max Verstappen is so special, and that’s the only thing you can say about it, because all these guys are great drivers. He seems to be on a different level for everyone else.”
