Max Verstappen gives telling four-word answer about ultimatum to Red Bull for changes his RB20 at Azerbaijan GP

Verstappen finished fifth at the Azerbaijan GP and was unable to keep pace with the frontrunners.

Max Verstappen gave a four-word answer when asked about the ongoing difficulties with his Red Bull car after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Verstappen crossed the line in fifth place in Baku, but was set to finish in seventh before a late-race crash between Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.

The Dutchman’s winless streak has now extended to seven Grands Prix.

And while he still leads the Drivers’ Championship by 59 points with seven races to go, the trio of Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc and Baku winner Oscar Piastri are all closing the gap.

What has been most alarming from a Red Bull perspective is that the problems have continued for several races, with both Verstappen and Perez suffering.

The Dutchman quickly lost ground to those ahead in the opening stint on medium tyres, but looked more competitive on hard tyres.

However, he could not pass Alex Albon or Norris who were on older hard tyres, and George Russell eventually overtook him on track for what proved to be the final podium spot.

And speaking after the race, Verstappen assessed exactly what he feels is going wrong.

He told reporters: “It was not enjoyable.

“Basically what I was worried about already after qualifying, and during qualifying, was also my main issue in the race, where I had a lot of problems with the car jumping around.

“I was losing contact with the tarmac. There was always one wheel on each axle coming off the ground in the low-speed corners. So I was just losing a lot of lap time there.

“On the braking as well, the car was jumping, and just a lot of sliding because of that.

“We know that you don’t want to do that in the race, so that all just spiralled into a lot of difficulties.”

Verstappen wasn’t the only driver to suffer from car problems in Azerbaijan, with Lewis Hamilton also struggling with surface tyre temperature-related issues.

The seven-time world champion, who started from the pit lane after an engine change, was set to miss out on the points altogether but finished in ninth after the late-race crash.