Red Bull Racing joining Formula One was to change the face of the sport forever. Teams had been coming and going for decades with Williams being the previous outfit to establish an F1 team capable of winning races and championships regularly. Founder Didi Mateschitz bought the failed Ford-Jaguar F1 programme and poured almost limitless investment into the squad from Milton Keynes establishing the team as one of F1’s ‘big boys’ and this even before the cost cap was conceived.

Over the years Red Bull has been controversial, upending the old order within the sport, sacking drivers mid-season more frequently than the rest of the field combined and now attempting something never seen before in th history of Formula One.

Red Bull are the first privateer F1 outfit to build their own F1 engine and in an era when the power units in the sport are more complex then ever win history. Even global car manufacturer Renault have recently admitted defeat by cancelling their F1 power plant programme blaming it on the FIA’s obsession with the uber complex and costly hybrid programme yet Red Bull are ploughing on with some input from US car giant, Ford.   

 

 

 

FIA claim nobody is cheating

Winning regularly in Formula One immediately puts a target on your back and in this regards Red Bull are no exception. Mercedes became their nemesis for some time with the result being weekly spats between Toto Wolff and Christian Horner. More recently Zak Brown has become Red Bull’s fiercest critic labelling the world champions as  ‘cheats’ during the cost cap row and demanding “transparency” earlier this year during a confidential HR process whose investigation dismissed the allegations against Christian Horner of “inappropriate behaviour.”

Now Brown has turned his attention to the latest paddock saga which sees Red Bull stand accused in the court of public opinion of using an illegal technology designed to secretly raise and lower the height of the RB20 whilst in parc ferme. The FIA issued a clarification prior to the weekend of the USGP, where the head of single seater racing (in effect running the FIA’s F1 day to day business), Nicolas Tombazis told Sky F1: 

“At the previous race, it was pointed out to us that certain designs could allow a change of the height at the front of the car, which some people call a bib, in parc ferme.

“We did not have any indication or any proof that anybody was doing something like that – that would clearly be illegal under parc ferme regulations. So we said that from this race onwards, there must be no possibility of doing such a thing at all. So if a team had a design that would allow a quick change of that height, it would have to be sealed so they could not have access in parc ferme.”

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Brown calls for further FIA investigation

He concluded that “all teams have adhered to that and, as far as we are concerned, that is under control.” Tombazis refused to be drawn on whether anyone had run this technology prior to the FIA investigation.

Red Bull have admitted to having the technology on their car, but are adamant it was never used during parc ferme, pointing out there are FIA CCTV cameras running in the garages during this time to ensure the teams do not work on the cars.

Nevertheless Zak Brown is now calling on the FIA to take a closer look, reasoning Red Bull would not have gone to the trouble of designing this component if they had no intention of using it. The McLaren CEO says Red Bull’s explanation of their contentious ride height device “doesn’t stack up” and calls for “massive consequences” if the world champions are found to have been using it previously.

This is the latests in the war of words developing between Red Bull and their closest rivals for both championships. During the autumn break three weeks, Dr. Helmut Marko had criticised McLaren’s Lando Norris calling him ‘mentally weak’ and backing his own driver Max Verstaoppen to prevail in the battle for F1 drivers’ honours this year.

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Marko calls out Norris’ “mental weakness”

“Norris, as we know, has certain weaknesses at the start,” noted the 81-year-old Austrian. Lando Norris claimed five pole positions in his career before he finally led a Grand Prix at the end of the first lap.

“And as I have now read, there are also weaknesses in other areas. For example, he has to follow certain rituals on race day in order to be able to perform at all,” Marko continued

“We know that Norris has some mental weaknesses,” claimed the Red Bull advisor in an interview with Motorsport-Magazine.

Lando has previously spoken on the topic of his own mental health and his boss Zak Brown now calls Marko’s attack on his driver as a ‘dirty tricks’ campaign. As he did during the Red Bull internal investigation, Brown calls out the attitudes of yesteryear as an example of Red bull culture.

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Brown presents “fair play” McLaren F1

“I read Helmut’s comments, which I thought were disappointing but not surprising,” said Brown to assembled media in COTA. ”Lando has been an ambassador for mental health. Toto [Wolff, Mercedes team principal] has spoken about mental health.

“It’s a serious issue we’ve tried to talk about, to bring to the forefront, to make it okay to talk about, so to maybe kind of choose, poking at that situation, is pretty inappropriate and sets us back 10, 20 years”, concluded Brown.

Zak likes to present himself as the modern day version of what a Formula One team boss and indeed man should be like. Yet the impression Brown gives is of a child fulfilling its life ambitions to be left alone in a sweetshop and becomes rather overwhelmed by everything that is on offer.

Brown presents McLaren as the ‘nice guys’ and the ‘fair racing’ F1 team where neither of its drivers are favoured and they are at all times free to race. Yet F1 is about winning and modern man Zak may find his team didn’t have enough toughness or even race hardened experience to do what was required to beat Red Bull at their own very specialised game.

Red Bull open a can of worms

 

 

 

Verstappen ‘doesn’t bottle it’ says Marko

Marko has now responded to Brown’s and clarified his comments which appear to have been twisted along the way. Mental toughness is a part of any top level sport and at times is the element an athlete is lacking and preventing them reaching the top of their chosen competition.

“I was asked who is going to win the world championship, and then I said that it will be Max, because he is the strongest mentally and because he is the fastest driver,” Marko explained again to Motorsport Magazin. 

“And if you look at how many times Max wins positions or maintains his position at the start and how Lando does in that, I think [it becomes obvious.]”

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McLaren must toughen up

Suggesting a driver bottles certain situations even in F1 is in no way mocking the serious topic of “metal illness.” Marko also takes a swipe at Brown for his dramatic response over the Red Bull T-tray saga describing it as a “storm in a tea cup.”

“We let the FIA know about it, they knew about this mechanism,” Marko continued setting the record straight. “Almost all of the teams have different versions of it, and with us, you can only access it by having to remove a relatively large number of parts from the front of the car.

“What was also overlooked was that in parc ferme, the cars are under permanent surveillance [from CCTV], which means it is not possible to change anything.”

Whilst the Brash Zak Brown who joined Formula One has largely been tamed, at times the American head of McLaren maybe just says too much and reveals how little he knows of Formula One. Further, his McLaren team better toughen up for the seasons run in let the battle hardened Red Bull pull of another famous F1 championship win.

RB boss: Ricciardo chose to go quietly

 

 

 

COTA resurface criticised by Pirelli

The Circuit of the Americas opened its doors to Formula One back in 2012. Despite infighting over ownership during its development and Bernie Ecclestone threatening to cancel the promote’s F1 hosting license, the circuit was an immediate hit with the drivers, markedly the 11 degree of climb to the first corner named “Big Red.”

The site of COTA is built predominantly on clay and part of the perimeter of the track lies on a floodplain which meant in time the asphalt would subside creating sections of the track which are bumpy. And it became apparent last year that twelve years of racing had taken its toll.

The new ground effect cars work best when operating as close as possible to the ground and last year’s event saw the bumps creating excessive wear on the underfloor plank used by the FIA to adjudicate legal ride height… READ MORE