Red Bull lacked podium pace at Zandvoort even without Verstappen's crash, says ex-mechanic

Red Bull lacked the pace to fight for a podium at the Dutch Grand Prix regardless of Max Verstappen’s opening-lap crash, according to former team mechanic Calum Nicholas. Speaking on the team’s official Talking Bull podcast, Nicholas said the car’s performance at Zandvoort on Sunday would have left Verstappen stranded in the same midfield position that stand-in driver Liam Lawson ultimately occupied.

Verstappen’s race ended almost before it began when he clipped a damp patch on the final banked corner of the opening lap and hit the wall heavily. While the rain had cleared ahead of the start, wet patches remained on the circuit, catching the home favourite out. Lawson, deputising for the injured Isack Hadjar, went on to finish seventh and collect six points for the Milton Keynes outfit.

Nicholas was candid about the team’s underlying pace deficit. “Liam probably had a boring, lonely race,” he said. “Big gap ahead of him, big gap behind him. But that was just the pace of the car. Even if Max had completed this race and not had the incident on lap one, I think that’s pretty much where he would have ended up as well, in that space between the frontrunners and those behind us. I really don’t think that there was a lot more to offer this week.”

Nicholas also pointed to a recurring weakness in windy conditions. “One of the things that we’ve perhaps struggled with a little this year is when we’re in gusty, windy conditions, the car just seems a little bit unhappier,” he explained. “It creates a little bit more work for the drivers and we’ve got to work out what it is that’s at the bottom of all that. But I don’t think it’s a disaster.”

At the front, McLaren’s Lando Norris took victory at what was the final Formula 1 grand prix to be held at Zandvoort, with Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli and George Russell completing the podium. The result underlines the gap Red Bull must close if Verstappen is to mount a serious championship challenge in the remaining rounds.