Max Verstappen discovered a 'very clear' reason behind Red Bull's decline while poring over data at the Italian Grand Prix, which prompted the team to shift their approach.

The Dutchman won nine races last season, which was enough to secure a fourth straight Drivers' Championship title. It was a particularly impressive feat given that Red Bull did not have the quickest car for the majority of the campaign.

They won four of the opening five races but dropped off following the Miami Grand Prix, with McLaren gaining the upper hand before Ferrari followed suit.

In an interview with , Verstappen recalled looking over the data at the Italian Grand Prix weekend and realising that something was very wrong.

"All plans for new parts that were to come after that could go in the bin," he said. "The team basically started all over again after that. They couldn't find the exact problem before that.

"I saw some graphs at one point when we were looking at the data. I saw certain aerodynamic shifts in how we entered the corners, turned in and also in terms of ride heights, different from the car from the year before.

"I said: 'Hey, it's very clear that this and this is the problem, isn't it?'. And that was right, I heard."

Verstappen explained that he had never seen those specific graphs before, with the trajectory of the team becoming clear once he had raised the issues he discovered.

He continued: "I said then that it was clear what we had to work on, because of course the engineers know exactly what had been changed compared to the car from last year.

"At the beginning of last season we were still winning our races convincingly, but I already felt that the balance of the car didn't feel the way I wanted it to. But then we still had a big lead over other teams, who maybe hadn't had a very good winter."

It remains to be seen if Verstappen will be top dog next season, with the reigning champion facing a tough battle to win a fifth successive Drivers' Championship title.

McLaren and Ferrari will head into the new campaign as the clear favourites after emerging as the two quickest teams on the grid. Red Bull, meanwhile, could stay on the decline following the exits of several key figures including famed designer Adrian Newey.

They will be hoping for Liam Lawson to hit the ground running when he steps into the other seat alongside Verstappen. It has been something of a poisoned chalice in recent years but Lawson will be desperate to buck the trend.