Max Verstappen had a rough Friday at his home circuit. The Red Bull driver finished 11th in the only practice session at Zandvoort, and the blame fell squarely on a gearbox issue that's been bothering him all season. During FP1, he nearly hit the wall at Turn 11 after a particularly nasty downshift locked up the rear, prompting him to tell engineer Gianpiero Lambiase it was ridiculous over the radio. It's the kind of problem that seems to keep cropping up for the four-time world champion, but Sky Sports pundit Anthony Davidson reckons he's finally figured out what's really going on.

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Davidson pointed to Verstappen's onboard footage as the clearest evidence yet of the issue. When Max downshifts through the mid-corner phases, the rear tyres momentarily lock up, creating that sudden snap of oversteer that's been catching him out. But here's where it gets interesting, Davidson reckons it's not really a gearbox problem at all. The real culprit is how far Verstappen pushes the braking at the rear of the car. He's running right at the threshold, and when he requests a downshift, it tips things over the edge and locks everything up. Most drivers simply don't brake that hard in those situations.

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What makes Davidson's analysis so pointed is that he's essentially saying Verstappen is the architect of his own misery. The Dutchman's aggressive braking style, which has made him the driver he is, is actually making him more susceptible to harsh downshifts than his rivals. It's a brilliant observation, really. Few drivers are willing to push the rear brakes to the absolute limit like Max does, which explains why most of the grid isn't experiencing these problems. It's the kind of thing that separates the best from everyone else, but it can also work against you when the car's on the edge.

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The timing isn't great for Red Bull either. Just days after Verstappen penned a new multi-year deal keeping him at Milton Keynes through 2030, he's struggling for pace at Zandvoort in what's being touted as the track's final appearance on the F1 calendar. Both Red Bull cars looked off the pace compared to the front-runners, and if the engineers can't sort this out, it could be a bittersweet sendoff for their star driver at his home race.

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