Imola labelled as 'crucial' in Max Verstappen's title defence after reliability issues

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has been told by Tom Coronel that Imola is going to be ‘crucial’ in terms of staying in the championship fight.

The Dutch driver would have been eager to defend his crown with everything he could this season but, so far, he has been badly hampered by reliability issues with his RB18.

Indeed, he’s had to retire from two of the three Grands Prix so far this year, which has been made even more painful in knowing that he has a genuinely quick car that is capable of earning good points and taking the fight to Charles Leclerc.

At the moment, though, Leclerc is running away with things at the top of the standings and, as per Coronel when speaking to Motorsport.com, Verstappen needs a positive turn around in Imola to stay in the championship fight and F1 needs it to for the sake of the entertainment factor:

“With a second place in the first race, a win and now again in second place [Verstappen] had the speed and that’s what it is about. But yes, that also means if you give away twice that amount of points, you have a serious problem.

“But in the end, you want to have a fight with two different teams. Like it was at the beginning of last year, that was of course mega. Then the dime could fall in a different direction every week with Mercedes and Red Bull. That’s what Formula 1 wants and for that, Imola just becomes crucial.

“I thought Red Bull would already do something about the weight for Australia, but Imola is where the biggest upgrades come. So the question there is ‘are they there or not?’”

Imola provided an early spark to the 2021 championship as Lewis Hamilton and Verstappen banged wheels at the first chicane, and Max may need a similar elbows-out performance next weekend to affirm he