Max Verstappen has refuted claims that Red Bull was forced to discard a now-prohibited technical feature from their 2024 car.
The leading Formula 1 team has encountered numerous hurdles this year, including a drop in performance, escalating internal disagreements, and the departure of key figures like Adrian Newey and sports director Jonathan Wheatley.
Due to financial restrictions imposed by the budget cap, consultant Dr Helmut Marko, as well as Verstappen, acknowledged that Red Bull couldn't counter Audi's lucrative proposal for Wheatley to take on the team principal role.
"When you get an offer like that, your ambition is of course to move up," triple world champion Verstappen stated.
"That was simply not possible with us, and if you have to deal with the budget cap, then you can't easily match the offer."
"As I said earlier, there are no hard feelings."
Verstappen, 26, mentioned that Wheatley's replacement would come from within their current team, while other teams may continue efforts to entice more personnel from Red Bull.
"I think that's life in Formula 1, especially when you have been very successful," the Dutch racer commented. "It's normal that other teams try to steal people away."
Despite significant exits among the staff, Verstappen maintains that a recent FIA rule banning asymmetrical braking systems isn't targeting Red Bull specifically.
"I don't know where that comes from," the world champion remarked, "but we don't have that on the car, so we're not worried about it."
There are no new upgrades to the Red Bull car at Zandvoort, and it's even suggested that the specification has been slightly reversed to earlier components.
"I would rather speak about downdates than updates," Marko humorously told Kleine Zeitung newspaper. "But I am optimistic. We were not as bad as we looked recently."
"Qualifying will be particularly important in Zandvoort," he added. "Together with McLaren, we are certainly among the favourites."
Indeed, McLaren's Lando Norris is trailing Verstappen by 78 points with ten races remaining in the season.
"Personally, I don't see anybody catching up with Max and Red Bull in normal circumstances," Mercedes' George Russell mentioned on Thursday. "They have an exceptional lead.
"It's just we've been used to crazy dominance in the last two years."
