After winning 21 races and dominating the grid in 2023, Red Bull is finally showing signs of weakness this season. Max Verstappen is not happy with the car, and Ferrari and McLaren are closing in on the gap Red Bull built over the last two years. Amid this struggle, team principal Christian Horner has revealed his helplessness in dealing with the situation.
At the team principals’ press conference ahead of the Monaco GP, Horner said (as quoted by F1 Maximaal),
“With these regulations, it is inevitable that convergence will take place. It is incredible that we have managed to maintain our lead for so long. We have brought some new parts here and there, but we also have to be careful with the budget ceiling.”
️| Christian Horner on bringing bigger upgrades in the future
“I think we’re a bit more iterative. We’ve bought some pieces here and there, and they’ve done what they’ve said on the tin.
But when you start to get to the top of the curve, you get into a law of diminishing… pic.twitter.com/LtuLuvFuNa
— RBR News (@redbulletin) May 24, 2024
This season, Horner’s team has brought upgrades twice – in Japan and Imola. The ones they brought to the latter haven’t helped as much as the outfit would have hoped. Max Verstappen struggled with balance throughout the weekend, and a setup change helped him win by the barest of margins.
Meanwhile, Horner raises concerns about the $135 million budget cap that Red Bull was found guilty of breaching in 2021.
The FIA slapped them with a $7 million fine and also reduced their wind tunnel time by 10%. Christian Horner dubbed these sanctions as ‘draconian’ back then and will tread carefully to make sure the team doesn’t repeat the same mistake. This may curb their development plans moving forward.
McLaren and Ferrari are making huge strides, which should also make the reigning World Champions wary of the consequences.
Max Verstappen invincible no more
When the 2024 season started, Verstappen was expected the be the sole dominant driver for the third year in a row. However, after McLaren brought its first upgrade package in Miami, Lando Norris managed to defeat the Dutchman by over seven seconds, winning his first-ever F1 race.
In Imola last weekend too, Norris finished just 0.7 seconds behind the 26-year-old. It shows that the latter is not the outright favorite to win every single race, as was the case in 2022 and 2023.
I’ll remember this forever. Thank you everyone ❤️ pic.twitter.com/aN8BWiGoMX
— Lando Norris (@LandoNorris) May 8, 2024
Ferrari too, brought upgrades to Imola which bolstered their performance. Unfortunately, it didn’t make them as fast as McLaren and Red Bull. Now in Monaco, Ferrari will be hoping to enter the mix, as they look to win their second race of the 2024 season.
