Red Bull have suddenly found itself under attack by multiple teams in 2024 and both of its championship titles are under threat. Particularly, the Austrian outfit is already trailing McLaren by 40 points in the constructors’ standings and to rub salt in their wounds, Ferrari’s resurgent form has got them on the verge of losing P2 as well.
Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko revealed that losing second place in the constructors to the Italian outfit could cost them around $7 million. This is the difference in prize money for P2 and P3. Marko told Kleine Zeitung,
“We absolutely want to avoid falling to third place, because there is a difference of around seven million dollars. You can clearly feel that in the budget.”
TEAM STANDINGS (with 5 races to go)
Ferrari now trail Red Bull by just eight points! #F1 #USGP pic.twitter.com/34xqBIDtoC
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 20, 2024
Teams often prioritize the constructors’ championship for maximizing their prize money. Even the additional $5 to 7 million gained by finishing one place higher in the standings could help a team’s finances for next season.
As things stand, Ferrari seem to be on an upward trajectory and Red Bull are in damage-limitation mode. In the last three to four races, the Milton Keynes outfit have lost significant chunks of points to both Ferrari and McLaren.
Currently, Ferrari is only eight points behind and could outscore Red Bull in Mexico to take P2. All in all, this would be a terrible result from a sporting perspective for the defending champions.
On one end, they have Max Verstappen who still holds a 57-point lead in the drivers’ standings and may eke out a fourth drivers’ championship. So, in such a scenario losing the constructors’ title and finishing third in the teams’ standings would be an embarrassment for Red Bull.
What can Red Bull do?
The Austrian team’s US GP upgrade hasn’t shown its efficacy yet. So, it would be too early to rule out Red Bull to recover some of its performance deficit to Ferrari and McLaren in the remaining five races. Verstappen’s form in Mexico may give a better indication of where that pendulum swings and if the RB20’s issues are ironed out or not.
From a long-term perspective, if Red Bull do finish third behind McLaren and Ferrari this season, it may not be the worst thing due to the aerodynamic sliding scale. As per that scale, the Milton Keynes outfit can avail more wind tunnel time and CFD runs for the first half of the 2025 season if they finish P3.
This would be a slight advantage for Red Bull’s plan to recover to being a consistent race-winning car next year. Still, as Marko said, they would ideally want the additional prize money and try to be the first runners-up at least if they cannot manage to beat McLaren for the title.
