Red Bull's Max Verstappen wins fourth F1 title despite persistent serious problem

Red Bull's Max Verstappen secured his fourth Formula One World Championship at the Las Vegas Grand Prix after finishing fifth and holding a 63-point lead with two races left.

After some terrible finishes, it looked like his fourth title was in jeopardy. However, his win in Brazil changed the tide, propelling him to championship glory.

Verstappen performed the drive of his life at the Brazilian Grand Prix after remarkably coming back from P17 to win and all but confirm his fourth successive title.

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The flying Dutchman moved through the field with fearless determination in the treacherous rainy conditions to secure his first win in 11 races and leaving Lando Norris with a mountain to climb in the final three Grand Prix.

According to The Guardian, Verstappen said: "I never thought I would win today. I had a feeling I could come forward. I am incredibly pleased with this result, an unbelievable race for us."

The 2023 Formula One season was Red Bull's most dominant year ever. Red Bull won 21 of a potential 22 races, and Max Verstappen was crowned champion for a third successive year.

Most Formula One fans believed the 2024 season would be a replica of the 2023 season, and until race ten, it seemed that way, with Verstappen winning seven of the first ten races.

However, since race ten of the F1 season in Spain, Red Bull's results have taken a turn for the worse, with Verstappen going winless in ten before the Grand Prix in Sao Paolo.

Red Bull has been struggling with its car's performance, and multiple upgrades have failed to drastically improve the car and take it to the top of the podium.

According to the GP Blog, Verstappen speculated that the RB20 is suffering because it is difficult to get the car's floor upgrades right under the new regulations.

Verstappen said, "It seems trickier than everyone thinks. It's a lot more sensitive with upgrades than under previous regulations."

Could Red Bull's outdated wind tunnel be causing performance issues? Now four-time champion Verstappen discussed whether the wind tunnel is causing the lack of top-of-the-podium finishes.

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Verstappen told Autosport: "It's true that we have a fairly old wind tunnel, but until this year it did everything right. Some things are just hard to understand."

The F1 wind tunnel is a crucial aspect of car development as teams look to balance aerodynamics with power. The wind tunnel checks whether ideas that look good on computer simulations work when you test them.

Formula One is a heavily tech-based sport, constantly creating upgrades, new designs, and cutting-edge technology. An outdated wind tunnel will struggle to keep up with the latest technological concepts, holding a team back like Red Bull.

According to ESPN, at the end of their incredible 2023 season, Christian Horner announced that Red Bull would start creating a new wind tunnel in 2024 and be fully finished in 2026, ready for the 2027 season.

Horner and Red Bull must not have anticipated their current wind tunnel would cause so many issues just a season after losing one race in a year. However, Horner did express a minor concern following the 2023 championship victory.

"Particularly with the wind tunnel that we have, which is a Cold War relic, and not particularly efficient, particularly in cold weather, which you tend to get a bit of in the UK, we have to be very selective."

Rivals McLaren unveiled their state-of-the-art wind tunnel in October 2023, and results have drastically improved since making such a significant technological advancement.

In the 2023 season, Lando Norris finished on the podium in five of the final eight races. Since then, in 2024, Norris and Oscar Piastri have jumped significantly, with Norris winning three races and Piastri winning two.

The arrival of McLaren's new state-of-the-art wind tunnel has undoubtedly transformed the team's results on the track, and vice versa for Red Bull. Unfortunately for McLaren, they couldn't quite catch Verstappen this season.

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