Max Verstappen feels that endless speculation over the future of his team mate Sergio Perez has been a distraction from much more serious concerns at Red Bull.
Despite having signed a contract extension earlier in the year, there had been speculation that Perez might be dropped from the line-up over the summer after a string of disappointing qualifying and race performances.
Ultimately team boss Christian Horner told staff back at their Milton Keynes headquarters this week that Perez would remain in the car until the end of the season, in a bid to put a stop to the rumours once and fort all.
“We are team-mates," Verstappen said when asked about Perez. "We always try to give our feedback to the car, and that is also what Checo is doing. He has always been fully contributing to that.
“We can't deny that the last few weekends have been a bit difficult [for Checo]," he added. "I would say also some were a bit unlucky. Unlucky at Silverstone in qualifying, that the off meant he had to start at the back.
"Especially in a race like that it’s very difficult to progress [from there]," he explained. “Also the people starting in the front raced themselves backwards. It’s tough.
"Naturally he wants to do better. I know he’s working very hard. It’s not that he just takes it for granted,' Verstappen insisted. “So I think it’s not entirely fair to say that everything is his own fault."
Verstappen said that he had not talked with Perez about "about the situation" regarding his tenure at Red Bull, but insisted that the pair continued to work closely when it came to improving the car's performance.
“We just talk about what we can control, and that’s of course our influence to have a faster car," he said. “We talk about the balance of the car. We talk about what we need from the car. Yeah, that’s always been a strong point.”
Verstappen is more worried about other developments at the team, with Adrian Newey's exit from Red Bull in February now followed by news that Horner's long-time right hand man, sporting director, Jonathan Wheatley, has also quit.
This comes at a time when the team is struggling to wring more performance out of the RB20. Far from matching their imperious 2023 performance, Red Bull has recently found itself struggling to keep up with their rivals.
Red Bull pinned their hopes on a major new upgrade package they brought to Hungary but it failed to deliver the expected gains and left the team scratching their heads going into the summer break.
"We just need to focus on performance because our car has been a bit tricky at times," he asserted. “On Friday we're always chasing balance. It’s very hard to be consistent because you are always having to deal with balance issues.
“Even for myself, the last few weekends have been very challenging to get the best out of the car, and the team knows that," he pointed out. "So it’s not entirely fair to say that everything is Checo's own fault.
“I think our main concern is the car, that’s what we should focus on mainly," he said, having finished in fourth in Spa after a grid penalty, having not been able to overtake Mercedes, McLaren or even Ferrari drivers in the final laps.
Perez meanwhile started on the front row but fell back during the race and ended up crossing the line in seventh, despite George Russell's post-race disqualification promoting him up a place after the flag.
"I think if you look at Checo’s weekend, it was very positive, I would say," Verstappen insisted. "In the race, it just shows that we have difficulties with the tyres, the tyre life, so I think that should be our main priority.”
Although all development work is suspended for two weeks in August, Red Bull will be hoping to finally wrap their heads around how to extract the most improvement out of their new upgrades in time for Verstappen's home race.
If they can't, it could prove to be a nail-biting end to the season for Red Bull as McLaren inch ever closer in the constructors championship, with Verstappen not having won a race since the Spanish Grand Prix in May.
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