F1 pundit thinks Max Verstappen's DRS issue could have been caused by Red Bull's weight reduction at 2022 Spanish GP

Max Verstappen's DRS difficulties during the 2022 F1 Spanish GP could have been caused by the Red Bull RB18's weight reduction, opined Sky Sports F1 pundit Ted Kravitz.

The Dutchman was left frustrated for much of the race at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya after a malfunctioning DRS mechanism threatened to ruin his race. The same issue also prevented him from making a final run in Saturday's qualifying session, where Ferrari's Charles Leclerc took pole after the Dutchman backed off.

Ultimately, it all worked out well for Verstappen, who was able to take the win by passing teammate Sergio Perez with the help of team orders following Leclerc's shock retirement after suffering from a power failure.

In his post-race notes for Sky, Kravitz shared his thoughts on the DRS issue faced by the reigning world champion. The Briton said:

“What I thought was interesting was Christian Horner saying on the grid ‘well we have been taking weight out of things’. Does he mean they’ve been taking weight out of that DRS actuator and that then has led to it failing?”

Kravitz went on to add, saying:

“Gosh, well, if it did that’s not good, that’s a salutary lesson. If that is just something that they can fix quickly for Monaco, that’s fine. But clearly, if they have taken weight out of it and it has failed, that’s a very bad thing and the person who put mass and weight into it in the first place said ‘aha, told you so, told you it had to be heavy’.”

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"We now know where the problem lies" - Red Bull promise to fix DRS malfunction for Max Verstappen ahead of 2022 F1 Monaco GP

Red Bull team advisor Dr. Helmut Marko has assured Max Verstappen that the DRS malfunction he had to deal with last week in Barcelona will be fixed in time for the 2022 F1 Monaco GP.

Speaking in an interview with the Dutch edition of motorsport.com, the 78-year-old Austrian addressed the issue that caught both Verstappen and Red Bull by surprise at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Marko said:

“You have to calm him [Verstappen] down, I mean, we were surprised by this problem ourselves and you still have to make the best of it. When he didn’t press the button on the kerb anymore, it worked properly. He’s just an emotional racer, that’s alright.”

The veteran Austrian former F1 driver went on to add, saying:

“We instructed him to remain calm and to only press once. Before that he pressed the button several times, so that the DRS then closed again. Thank god it then opened at the right moment. We now know where the problem lies. There are still five days and a day has 24 hours for us, so that shouldn’t be a problem.”

Red Bull has its sights set firmly on the 2022 F1 Monaco GP, where Max Verstappen will be hoping to make it four wins on the spin for the season.