Last Updated on September 13 2024, 2:10 pm

Red Bull Racing have responded to widespread criticism that their RB20 car had reached the end of its development potential. Max Verstappen completed the third most number of laps in Baku practice one and blew away the field with his best time of 1:45.546. 

Lewis Hamilton was next quickest but some 0.313s slower and championship contender Lando Norris was almost half a second off the pace. Red Bull have struggled with correlation issues in recent weekends, so for them to bring their car upgraded – and to be quick straight out of the box. – is highly encouraging for the world champions.

Red Bull have brought a floor upgrade which chief engineer Paul Monaghan described as “remarkably subtle” in an attempt to reverse their decline since the Spanish Grand Prix. Barcelona was the venue for Max Verstappen’s last victory and it appeared McLaren had the measure of Red Bull closing the constructors’ site race to just eight points.

 

 

 

Red Bull revised floor airflow

Sergio Perez also finished ahead of the lead McLaren which bodes well for the Milton Keynes team this weekend as for most of the season it has been the McLaren pairing working in tandem and scoring well.

Red Bull have revised the Venturi tunnel geometry on its latest floor to improve ‘pressure gradients along the floor’ which should provide better aerodynamic performance. 

The subtleness of the change has been influenced by the short turnaround times between back to back races at Zandvoort and Monza and just one weekend off before travelling to Baku.

If the floor upgrade delivers a tangible performance step, there’s a further evolution in the pipeline which could be ready for Singapore next weekend. “The lessons are kind of ongoing, and the immediate reaction tends to be [seen in] the later races,” Monaghan said.

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Perez no upgrades as yet

“So, it’s a testament to everybody that we got it here. A lot of hard work, and that hard work will continue. Singapore’s only a week away. So that will be potentially another evolution for us.”

Monaghan appeared pleased with the results from the floor upgrade with initial findings delivering as expected and a step in the right direction is a big fillip for the team who indecent times have appeared to be fumbling blindly in the dark.

The Red Bull engineer acknowledges “the proof of the pudding will be on Sunday afternoon,” yet the positivity in the Red Bull camp suggests the team have turned a corner.

Paul Monaghan would not confirm whether Sergio Perez has the upgrade which suggests there are more back to back, and split tests in the offing. Red Bull have done this already this season and the key to this weekend has been the speed of their reaction to defeats by McLaren in the Netherlands and Italy where last time out they were just the fourth quickest team.

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Monza was Red Bull low point

Max Verstappen after the defeat in Monza appeared to hold little hope he and the team could retain their championships and McLaren in turn have beefed up the tools at their disposal by stating they will use team orders in future, should it be of neutral value to the team but beneficial to Lando Norris.

“There are many ways to address what we found on the car or the car’s behaviour from Monza, and it touches all the aspects of the car, not just whether we revise a floor geometry or wing geometry,” continues Monaghan.

“It would be naive of us to think that we can just leave it. We’ve licked our wounds [and] we’ve tried to bring changes to the car and make it better. We don’t want to watch Monza again, it wasn’t the most pleasant event for us. So, we’d like to improve relative to our opposition.”

Red Bull clearly fell behind the development of McLaren in particular and this boost should lead to further floor upgrades together with other complimentary components. The team has some way to go in front wing aeroelasticity progress where McLaren and Mercedes currently lead the way.

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Sprint weekend problems coming

With next year’s F1 car design regulations remaining stable, Red Bull will examine the results of their development over the weekend and then decide whether to risk valuable financial resources for a big upgrade in Austin, Texas. The USGP weekend is a Sprint event and so the team will have just FP1 to evaluate a new large package on the car.

There is another four week break from racing following the Singapore Grand Prix, before the teams head into a chaotic six final race weekends of the season.

“It gives us the freedom to potentially do more,” Monaghan said of the upcoming gap, which while the same length as the summer break does not have mandated shut downs for the teams and their employees.

“The real [priority] is you don’t force yourself into doing it. The disciplined approach is to say, ‘Is it valuable enough to spend the money to do it, to take it to Austin?’

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A Max bounce back highlights Norris lost points

“And don’t forget, Austin’s a sprint race, so you’re going to roll the dice in FP1 and then go, ‘OK, yes, no, indifferent, keep it, not keep it’. But that then leaves us potentially with few of any one piece.

“So, your choices for Austin are team dependent, and somewhat confidence dependent,” concluded Monaghan. Red Bull bouncing back this weekend will confirm the worst of Lando Norris fears, that the team’s reluctance to issue team orders early enough will compromise his run at the title this season. Its cost him at least ten points to date and more depending on how the dice would have fallen.

Should Red Bull win this weekend in Azerbaijan, it will silence the doubters who claim its all going wrong back at Milton Keynes since their talisman designer, Adrian Newey, decided to quit.

Newey described the engineering function back a base as now “mature” and not needing the kind of day to day input he used to bring. Adrian will be re-united with his old number one Dan Fallows in Silverstone as they attempt to build a creation to take Fernando Alonso to his long overdue next race win – and possibly even a third drivers’ championship.

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Hamilton and Leclerc react to latest Ferrari snub

Adrian Newey chooses Aston Martin over Ferrari: Hamilton and Leclerc react – Adrian Newey, one of the most respected engineers in Formula One, has made headlines with his decision to join Aston Martin for next season, ending widespread speculation about his future.

Known for his technical brilliance and success at Red Bull Racing, Newey had been linked with a move to Ferrari. However, he has opted to work alongside Fernando Alonso at Aston Martin, leaving Ferrari fans and drivers to ponder what might have been. Despite Newey’s decision, both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have spoken out, showing no hard feelings about the move… READ MORE