Max Verstappen says he was perplexed by the stories swirling around Red Bull’s supposed usage of asymmetric braking this summer, and he addressed rival Formula One teams attempting to stir up controversy…

Max Verstappen says he was perplexed by the stories swirling around Red Bull’s supposed usage of asymmetric braking this summer, and he addressed rival Formula One teams attempting to stir up controversy.

After a dominant start to 2024, Red Bull’s fortunes took a turn for the worst around May’s Miami Grand Prix, when McLaren introduced a big upgrade package that transformed its MCL38 into a race-winning vehicle, while Red Bull claims it picked the wrong development path with its RB20.

Red Bull struggled to respond to its decline in competitiveness, with its last win dating back to Verstappen’s victory in June’s Spanish Grand Prix, and has only recently begun to turn the corner on its car’s handling troubles.

Speculation about the root of Red Bull’s form dip began in the summer, when the FIA revised its limits on asymmetric braking, thereby closing a loophole for the 2026 standards and retroactively applying the new language to this year’s rulebook.

The FIA also clarified that the rule change was not motivated by a current team utilizing a method that the new language prohibited, but this did not stop conjecture that Red Bull had been using a solution that it had to remove from the RB20.

“I’ve been in Formula One for ten years, and I’m not going to waste time on all those stories. I mean, I seldom read about Formula One anyhow. Of course, sometimes I notice something or someone informs me, “Did you see what this and that person said?” But I always tell them that they may think anything they want; I’m not going to waste my time on it. So I don’t care what others say.”

Red Bull was also chastised by rival teams for its form slump and off-track power conflicts, prompting McLaren CEO Zak Brown to declare that Red Bull had been “destabilised”. He later described the squad as a “pretty toxic” one.

“People who say all sorts of things should just focus on their own team,” Verstappen said when the matter was brought up. “That’s nothing against Zak Brown, by the way; that applies to anyone. People simply need to focus on themselves, which is what I am doing as well.”