Red Bull’s emergency meeting: Max Verstappen to decide RB21’s development path. Red Bull's emergency F1 meeting in Milton Keynes is dedicated to Max Verstappen.

An important day
Between Monday and Tuesday in Dubai, Red Bull already decided to replace Liam Lawson with Yuki Tsunoda starting from the next Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix. The New Zealander’s performances were too disappointing, with Helmut Marko describing him as “a punch-drunk boxer.”
Today, the emergency meeting called at the Milton Keynes factory will serve to direct the development of the RB21, which Max Verstappen described over the Shanghai weekend as the fourth-best car on the grid.

Helmut Marko’s explanation
It is no secret that Red Bull is entirely dependent on Max Verstappen’s talent and is willing to do everything possible to satisfy its champion and keep him in the team, preventing him from being tempted by offers from other teams (Mercedes and Aston Martin), given the performance-related clauses in his contract. This context explains why today is entirely dedicated to the Dutch driver.

Helmut Marko explained to Oe24: “Today’s meeting is mainly about Max, who will sit down with the engineers and analyze the next steps to take. The goal is to calmly address Max’s requests and criticisms.” In short, Verstappen will be the one steering the future development of the RB21, much to the detriment of the second driver, whoever they may be.

Helmut Marko then dismissed claims that Racing Bulls is performing better than Red Bull: “The RB21 is certainly difficult to drive, and the Racing Bull is easier and very fast over a single qualifying lap. But in the race, it is clearly behind Red Bull.”

As for the specter of Adrian Newey, another common belief is that the team has lost its way since the departure of the brilliant British designer. Helmut Marko responded: “Newey is Newey, but we are a team of nearly a thousand people, and the structures behind him have been built up gradually.”