MONZA, Italy — Max Verstappen has said Red Bull has turned its once-dominant car into “a monster” and must face up to the prospect of losing one or both of F1’s championships this year.

Verstappen’s championship lead over Lando Norris dropped to 63 points at the Italian Grand Prix, where he finished sixth, equalling his worst result of the season.

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McLaren, which now appears to have the quickest car in the field, has now moved to within nine points of Red Bull in the constructors’ championship.

When asked if it was realistic to think Red Bull can retain that title, Verstappen replied: “At the moment both championships are not realistic.”

After a record-shattering 2023 season, Verstappen won four of the five races to kick off 2024 – but he has not won a race since the Spanish Grand Prix on June 23.

“Last year we had a great car, which was the most dominant car ever, and we basically turned it into a monster, so we have to turn it around,” he said on Sunday evening.

Verstappen said Red Bull have to quickly remedy whatever has gone wrong with the car.

“I’ve said a lot and now it’s up to the team to come with lot of changes with the car because we basically went from a very dominant car to an undrivable car in the space of, what, six to eight months. So that is very weird, for me, and yeah, need to really turn the car upside down,” he said.

On whether he would go into damage limitation mode, Verstappen said: “In a way yes but that’s not how I like to look at the championship. We have to go from our own fortunes, and today, and all weekend has been very bad.”