Red Bull was the dominant force in 2023 but has fallen off the high horse this year. McLaren, Ferrari, and Mercedes have all caught up with them to some extent. Arguably, the Papaya team has surpassed them in performance. Yet, Pierre Wache is confident in his team to maintain the lead with upcoming upgrades.
“The regulations have been the same for a few years now and there are a lot of restrictions, so we do a lot of work for only small margins”, said Wache according to Telegraaf.nl as he explained why the performance gains aren’t massive with each upgrade.
Red Bull’s upgrades for the British Grand Prix
– Floor Body (Performance)
– Floor Edge (Performance) pic.twitter.com/RsMtaKw8ay— RBR Daily (@RBR_Daily) July 5, 2024
However, he was certain that Red Bull would stay with the likes of McLaren in the performance index as he added, “I certainly think that we can continue to develop this car and that we can still find a lot of performance in the coming period.”
Red Bull brought two big updates at the British GP in an attempt to become the pacesetters once again. A floor upgrade along with a new diffuser has been brought. Per the FIA, the floor body is “to get more energy thus pressure to the floor edge wing”. The floor edge is supposed “to add more camber deriving more load whilst respecting the necessity for flow stability.”
All these upgrades are part of a major upgrades package. A reprofiled sidepod inlet was brought to Spain as a part of this package. It is reported that Red Bull will further bring more upgrades to this package at the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Budapest upgrade is believed to be the biggest one of these.
Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez demand Red Bull to find the Performance
McLaren is arguably the fastest car on the track. It is Max Verstappen‘s pace and skill that is keeping Red Bull alive in the championship. Many are slamming Sergio Perez for his underwhelming performances. And precisely so, as Perez’s pace has always been about 4-5 tenths slower than Verstappen.
It’s just that Red Bull has fallen back in the development race with the competition filling the gap between Verstappen and Perez. The Dutchman warned its team about the consequences of him pushing to the limit every race as he demanded upgrades.
“We have to find more speed to become champions. If you have to drive at 101 percent every time as a driver, things will of course go wrong at some point”, said Verstappen in an interview with Telegraaf.nl.
Perez, on the other hand, expressed his frustration on the radio during the Austrian GP as he said, “F**k! I cannot believe that we’re this slow. This is too much.” With McLaren and Mercedes keen on bringing upgrades throughout the season, Red Bull need to find good performance in quick succession.
