2024 has seen Red Bull lose its dominant grasp on the rest of the grid. Its rivals – McLaren and Mercedes – have made huge ground, and are arguably faster at the moment. According to Pierre Wache, this relative loss of performance is a result of F1’s current set of technical regulations.
According to him, the recent ground effect regulations don’t provide teams with a wide scope of development. This is something even three-time World Champion Max Verstappen agrees with.
A simple solution to Red Bull’s problems with bumps and curbs is to increase the height of the car. But the rules prevent them from doing so.
“There are a lot of things you cannot do under the current regulations,” said Wache. “Everyone is working in the same direction and that’s why you see all the cars converging towards the same solution.”
Pierre Waché agrees with Max Verstappen, who has indicated that the current rules offer fewer directions for development.
Wache says: “I agree with him. It’s mainly because this regulation with the ground effect relies heavily on aerodynamics.”
1/ Motorsport Nederlands
— Junaid #JB17 (@JunaidSamodien_) August 6, 2024
Ground-effect regulations depend heavily on the aerodynamic setup of the cars. With policing around the technical regulations, conventional solutions have become obsolete, which is something Verstappen also points out.
Red Bull has bigger fish to fry than just staying ahead of its competition
Red Bull’s performance has deteriorated considerably, especially when compared to last season. Verstappen has been more than forthcoming about the RB20’s weaknesses, and the movements behind the scenes hint towards internal chaos.
BREAKING: Red Bull Racing Sporting Director Johnathan Wheatley has agreed to join the Audi project as Team Principal!
He will remain with Red Bull until the end of 2024.#F1 #Formula1 #FormulaOne #Audi #Ford #RedBull pic.twitter.com/GnIzpOOW4z
— Reuben Clarke (@reubenc2005) August 1, 2024
The biggest alarm bells rang when Adrian Newey departed. Moreover, recently, the team announced that Sporting Director Jonathan Wheatley too, would leave to become Team Principal at Audi.
Newey and Wheatley were considered the architects of Red Bull’s current generation of dominance. Their departure and Red Bull’s downturn in form would be considered a grim sign for the future of the Milton-Keynes-based outfit.
