03 June 2024 , 21:05
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Martin Brundle believes that the 'internal' issues that plagued Red Bull in the early stages of the F1 season are now costing them on the track.
Team principal Christian Horner was accused of inappropriate behaviour by a female colleague - an allegation he denied. Horner was cleared of any wrongdoing after Red Bull hired an external investigator to look into the complaint.
His accuser has since appealed that decision and an outcome to that process has yet to be made public. Design guru Adrian Newey then announced his decision to leave the team ahead of the 2025 season.
Recent races have also proven to be disappointing, with No.1 driver Max Verstappen losing out to Lando Norris in the Miami Grand Prix. The Dutchman then finished a lowly sixth in the Monaco Grand Prix last weekend, his worst result in a race he has completed since 2022.
And F1 legend Brundle believes that the issues around the team are now beginning to affect results. He insisted that Red Bull should now be looking over their shoulder in both the drivers and constructors championships.
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"It was [Charles] Leclerc's first victory in 39 races believe it or not, and he also broke a string of failing to win from his previous 12 pole positions. But he put in a perfect performance from the first lap of practice until the last lap of the race," Brundle told Sky Sports.
"Ferrari and McLaren are on a fine run, both teams and driver pairings looking very cohesive, focused, and well structured. This means that Red Bull are very much looking in their rear mirrors in both the Drivers' and Constructors' Championships and it appears to be game-on with so many races to come.
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Verstappen endurded a difficult weekend in Monaco (Getty Images)"I personally have no doubt that the internal events at Red Bull have detracted from their recent performances, and they'll be desperately keen to resume normal service in Montreal next time out."
Horner has admitted that his team need to take a look in the mirror to turn around their form. He branded the race at Monaco a "poor day" and insisted he would be pouring over the data to find out why.
“Obviously this race is won on a Saturday and that’s where we had a poor day,” Horner said. “We need to understand that, understand what the issues were with the ride and the kerbs.
“It was a very static race, the top 10 finished where they started from, the red flag effectively killed the race because everybody was going to run to the end of the race, so we have some lessons to take out of this weekend and learn from obviously.
“This circuit [Monaco] hasn’t played to our strengths, and we need to understand what are those weaknesses and how do we address them. It’s a continual process once you are into the law of diminishing returns, and of course your focus changes depending on what your weaknesses are.”