Max Verstappen secured his fifth race win of the season in Imola last weekend after starting from pole. However, even if his victory may have looked straightforward, it was anything but that. Verstappen fought tooth and nail for his victory until the very end and kept a threatening Lando Norris at bay. By the time the two crossed the line, just 0.7 seconds separated them.
Apart from the Dutchman’s brilliance, it was Red Bull’s entire team effort that helped them secure the win. Dr. Helmut Marko discussed the same in his latest column on Speedweek. Revealing how it took a collective effort to win in Imola, he wrote,
“There are fifty or more specialists sitting in the so-called operations room who observe and analyze every phase of the training. This is done in constant communication with our team at the racetrack. The racing simulator is used to try out what the pilots and technicians think is the best solution, and this experience also flows back to the racetrack. The best possible coordination is then developed based on the sum of all these findings”.
This is how much effort it took Red Bull to secure the victory in front of the Tifosi and keep Norris at bay. However, due to Verstappen’s tires also wearing out, he also ended up exceeding track limits on a few occasions and got agonizingly close to receiving a five-second penalty.
Had he received any sort of penalty, Norris would have won the race as he had finished just 0.7 seconds behind Verstappen. Following such a close battle, Christian Horner has acknowledged the threat that Red Bull’s rivals are likely to pose in the upcoming races.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner recognizes the growing threat from rivals
For the first time since 2022, Red Bull is threatened by its rivals. If not Miami, the race in Imola has made the threat evident. Christian Horner recognized the same and confessed the team needs to improve the RB20 to keep the competition at bay. Speaking to the media as quoted by Planet F1 after the race, he said,
“It just demonstrates that things don’t stand still in Formula 1. You’ve got to keep pushing, you’ve got to keep moving forward. We’ve won five of the seven races now, but you can see McLaren have made a step, Ferrari made a step and we’re going to need to keep that rate of development coming through.”
Red Bull is facing the same threat they posed to Mercedes back in 2021. In the third year of the regulations, they are seemingly no longer as invincible as they once seemed. They head to this weekend’s race in Monaco with a target on their back as Ferrari and McLaren will give it their all to register their second win of the 2024 season.
