Riccardo Patrese Interview: Red Bull’s Miami Meltdown and Verstappen’s Future

Speaking exclusively to BettingLounge, six-time Grand Prix winner Riccardo Patrese said Max Verstappen is fed up at Red Bull and needs pleasure from racing elsewhere. Featured image courtesy of AutoMotoTV.

The Italian is confident in Kimi Antonelli’s ability to challenge George Russell for the World Drivers’ Championship, and said the Brit is having ‘a really hard time’. 

Patrese also warns that Red Bull could be completely dead or reborn by the time we get to the Miami Grand Prix. 

Q: Max’s engineer Gianpiero Lambiase is leaving Red Bull next year. That's a big development isn't it, and with another high-profile departure, what does that mean long term for the team?

RP: “If Lambiase is leaving, it means that that Max is also leaving Red Bull next year. He is not feeling very happy. So, at the end of this season he will probably make his move. 

Max, first of all, has to enjoy driving these cars. But it is obvious he doesn't like it at all. 

He's a strong enough person that you believe him when he says, ‘If I don't have enjoyment, I'll leave a Formula 1.’ 

He has already got satisfaction and achieved so much in the sport. He has proved that he's the best, so on. If F1 changes and he has a good feeling again then he will go on. 

Otherwise, he may well change category. He really likes GT races. 

But at the end of it all, I think he is just talking. But he does need a winning car, that's for sure. He is fed up, that is for sure.” 

Q: There's nothing better than F1. F1 is the main prize in motor racing, so he surely won’t leave?

RP: “Yes, it is. But he's already a four-time world champion. His bank account is big enough that he can live very well for the rest of his life. So, he can do what he likes.

In my time the money was not as good as it is now. But the money was not the thing that we were thinking about. We liked to drive, and we liked the challenge of Formula 1. 

Now this year what is the challenge of a driver with these cars under the new regulations? 

That the car does everything itself. It accelerates itself to have the electronic energy back and then you can have extra power to overtake in the straight. You must lift to recharge the battery. 

It's totally against the philosophy of a racing driver. 

Max, who I repeat is a four time world champion, wants pleasure from driving. 

After all the problems that we had in the first three races and not least the accident between Bearman and Colapinto, FI has to find some solution to make it more stable. 

They have only two weeks now to think about what to do and to make changes. They have to.” 

Q: Max was closely linked with Mercedes last season. And they are going very well this year. But do you think that Max might now choose McLaren because Lambiase is going there? 

RP: “McLaren is not dominating like last year and it is Mercedes who are. They have made a very good car with the new specifications. They have a good engine, and at the moment Mercedes stay in front of McLaren. 

I don't know if McLaren have a different mapping in the engine because of course Mercedes has the official engine; the others are customers. This is another problem.” 

Q: But McLaren they were closer to Mercedes in Japan, it looks like they may be understanding and what they need to do to make the car more competitive.

RP: “Yes, they are probably catching up. Now they have lot of data and they can improve. When we restart the championship, we’ll see who can catch up? Maybe McLaren, maybe Ferrari, who knows. 

Honda looks to be in a little bit of trouble!” 

Q: Losing so many people suggests there are big problems for Red Bull now, doesn’t it?

RP: “Last year, they did not have the dominating car, but they had an excellent car which had been also very good the year before. 

Now they have to build everything from new, without Adrian Newey, their technical guide and supremo.

They haven’t made the right moves. They have an engine that at least is working, but for sure not the best engine. 

Not building a good car because they lost Adrian Newey, and not having a top engine, means that they are behind, even if they have Max Verstappen.” 

Q: What do you think about the team's future?

RP: “To make a definitive answer we need to wait until after the break. We will have a better idea if they are completely dead or they can be reborn. 

When there has been such an earthquake of a change in F1, you need a little bit more time to understand everything. They have had time to analyse the weak points that they have and how they can solve them. 

Before I give a final word, I should wait until the restart of the championship.” 

Q: There has been a report that Piastri and Max may swap seats. Is that a realistic possibility?

RP: “There are so many rumours. If Max wants to change he easily can. 

Everybody wants to have Max in the team. If Max wants to go to McLaren for sure one of the two leaves, maybe Piastri. 

If Max wants to go to Mercedes probably then it looks like it will probably be George who goes. Kimi is in a very good position for the championship. 

If Max wants to go to Ferrari probably, they can find a place for him there. For now, Ferrari have done a good job, at least in the first two Grand Prix. 

They are happier because it's a new car and they hope that they can develop the project and be competitive to fight to win races. 

But if they don’t win a driver will have to pay the price. And they will decide they have to change something. That may mean try to get Verstappen in. 

But the trigger for any move is what Max decides to do. He is the first part of the puzzle. Then everything else moves.” 

Q: Maybe McLaren could offer him, the number one seat, and also give him the hypercar to race and have both things he wants. 

RP: “Yes, that is possible. Formula 1 drivers are looking to endurance races because it's an opportunity. 

In Formula 1 if somebody has a problem staying in Formula 1 for any reason, they can have an escape route there. 

Or if they want to go to drive in endurance because they want to win Le Mans and have new challenges, they can go. McLaren are building the new hypercar, yes. 

But there are other teams that have the hypercar because all the brands are now building the hypercar. There is Ferrari, McLaren, and Aston Martin. 

The only people that don’t have one are Mercedes and Audi. 

Before they decided to fully commit to F1, Audi had a hypercar project ready. They put these on hold when they decided to focus all their efforts in Formula 1. 

But if they wanted to go for a hypercar, they could do in very quick time. I think it was already built. 

Do you think Max would regret leaving because with the right car he could be champion seven or times eight times and be recognised as the best ever. There’s nothing like F1 is there? 

Max says he wants to put pressure on FIA that he's unhappy with the situation and the rules this year. He hopes that they will do something to improve this technical aspect that makes Formula 1 complicated at the moment. 

He is unsatisfied, you can see that very clearly. For sure, I don't think he wants to leave Formula 1, because he still very young and he has the capability to be maybe another three times World Champion. 

Max is not the only one that doesn’t like these cars as they are. All the experienced ones, everyone, maybe except Mercedes! Toto is saying how much he is enjoying the races and all the overtaking! 

Also, there is a real safety issue; what happened to Bearman was potentially very dangerous.” 

Q: Formula 1 is bigger than Max Verstappen though, isn't it? The sport is bigger than one driver. Everyone signed up for this to two or three years ago.

RP: “Ok the rules were born three or four years ago. But nobody expected what we have seen and the way they have to drove the cars. 

There were new rules coming but only when they put the car on the ground and discovered all these things, did they realise the problems. The first test was quite a shocker for everybody. 

The way of driving changed so dramatically. The sport at the moment is strong enough to continue without Max Verstappen. 

But for the overall benefit of the sport I hope they find a solution that can make the cars more predictable. 

When you go into the very quick corner at the end of the straight at Suzuka flat out, 310 km an hour, and the car itself just decelerates 50 km an hour, you understand that the driver is no longer the driver in charge. He is being transported. He is the passenger!” 

Q: George Russell has had to wait for a few seasons to be the number one behind Lewis. Now he finds that there's a 19 year old called Kimi Antonelli who's doing better than him and upstaging him. Is that a real concern for George? How do you see George responding to the challenge of Kimi in Mercedes?

RP: “George had a few technical problems in China and couldn't really match the performance of Kimi. But in Japan Kimi definitely did a better job. 

Kimi is getting stronger and stronger because he's more self-confident. He won the first Grand Prix and then in Suzuka he was super quick, the quickest guy in the race. 

We will have to see how George reacts because at the beginning of the season he probably didn't envisage this prospective challenge from inside the team. 

It’s not something he expected. He realises now that to win the championship he has to beat his team-mate too. 

It's the first time that he has faced pressure like this. Before he was the challenger. Now everybody expects him to be the champion, but he has a strong teammate that can give him a really hard time.”

Q: How do you think he will respond?

RP: “He could have trouble. At the moment, the wind is on side of Kimi. George didn't expect that. He was dominated in Japan and probably in his head he is starting to think about strong Kimi is. 

For sure, he won’t be relaxed. This can be a problem. Or if there is much more pressure, he can react and it becomes even stronger.

We don't know yet. Because one thing is to be in the position to win some Grand Prix. And another thing is to be in the position that you have to go and win the World Championship. 

For sure Russell knows that he can be world champion and also Kimi knows that he can be world champion. Now it's up to them how to react to the pressure. 

We saw last year with Norris and Piastri; Norris was going well then Piastri stopped and then Norris came back. That was a lot to do with them having to try to win the championship. 

Oscar Piastri looked better in Japan as if he had his mojo back. looks like he had two, obviously the first two races not great, didn't start. How do you think his season will go? 

He must be sad because he lost a fantastic opportunity last year. But this year is another page and more than Lando he has to fight to try to win the World Championship. Lando has won one. 

For sure he's disappointed, because he lost a really golden opportunity. 

But because of that, he will try even harder this year. 

It's the same thing with Leclerc. He's been eight years with Ferrari and every year he's hoping to have a car to fight for the championship. But it hasn’t happened for one reason or another. 

But he's still trying a lot because he's angry and hungry to win.” 

Q: Do you like Piastri? What do you think of him as a driver? 

RP: “I like Piastri. Last year he did a brilliant job. He looked like he was dominating the championship until he just stopped and then he was losing one second to Lando. It is difficult to understand. 

But generally, all his career, he has proved to be very strong; strong in the minor formulas and when he came into Formula 1 he immediately performed very well. 

I think he's a potential world champion in Formula 1 with the right car.”

Q: Alonso doesn’t look a happy man. But he said after Japan that he thinks Aston Martin are where McLaren were in 2023 and look how they have improved. He thinks Aston Martin can do the same once they've sorted out the problems. Do you think that's realistic?

RP: “Everything depends on Honda! 

Because from the car point of view they are the best engineer they could have in Adrian. But he isn’t able to solve the Honda problems. Honda has to solve the problems. We know how strong they can be. For sure, at the moment, they have big problems. But I'm confident that Honda will come good. They are very resilient and very smart. 

They won't give up. And one day they are going to have a good engine and then Aston Martin because they have Adrain Newey, can be back really strong.” 

Q: Another unhappy driver seems to be Carlos Sainz at Williams. Can you understand why he might want to move on?

RP: “At the end of last year, he was brilliant. He brought Williams to a level where they had not been for many years. 

Now he might be unhappy and think the car and the team are not in a good place. But if he wants to leave, where does he go? 

It's difficult to think he could go back to Ferrari, it's difficult for him to get a place in McLaren because they have two good drivers, Mercedes is a non- starter. So, to leave a team like Williams would not make sense. 

He maybe could go to Red Bull, but they’re losing all the key people, at the end they are going to be maybe even worse than Williams. 

It is not an easy position for him at the moment. But I think Williams last year proved they are really improving. They have a good engine because it's a Mercedes engine. 

They were late because they couldn't do the test in Barcelona but we will see at the end of this month whether after the enforced break they can come out with a better car.” 

Q: You think we might see a better Williams?

RP: “I hope also because being a Williams driver, the team means a lot to me. In my heart Williams is always an important team.”

Q: Are you looking forward to racing again in May with Miami?

RP: “Yes. It has been very strange. Formula 1 fans are addicted to the sport and without their fix they are not well. 

They are really waiting for the show to get back on the road. We are waiting to see what's going to happen next because we know there are going to be some changes. 

I am sure the FIA can make it better because they are discovering new things by analysing all the date from the three races so far.”