F1 presenter and analyst David Croft has blamed Red Bull for being the architects of their own demise in 2024. The Briton believes that the choice to radically change the design philosophy of the RB20 from its predecessor, the RB19, has led to their struggles early on this season.
Speaking on the Sky Sports F1 podcast, Croft compared Red Bull’s management style to that of Premier League legend Pep Guardiola. Croft highlighted the Spaniard’s mantra of only tweaking the squad minutely every season as the single biggest reason Manchester City have continued their dominance at the highest level of English soccer.
Contrasting that with what Red Bull have done from last season to this year, he said, “He [Guardiola] is a tinkerer. But what Red Bull did was a major overhaul. You know, of the car – the chassis, the aero. They did something that a winning team might not necessarily have done.”
Guardiola’s philosophy has now led them to four consecutive Premier League titles. Now, it will be interesting to see if Red Bull are able to win their third consecutive Constructors’ Championship or not.
Only eight rounds have finished in the 2024 season and Red Bull have already lost three races. In stark contrast, the team lost only one race in the entirety of 2023, with Verstappen himself winning 19 of them.
David Croft will wait for the 2024 Spanish GP before delivering Red Bull judgment
Red Bull and Verstappen suffered arguably their most comprehensive defeat in the ground-effects era at the 2024 Monaco GP. The three-time world champion failed to even break into the top five during both the Qualifying and the Grand Prix. This weekend’s Canadian GP runs the risk of being more of the same.
The team’s 2024 challenger was left exposed on the streets of the Principality. The RB20 has an acute problem with bumps and kerbs. Moreover, according to Helmut Marko’s own admission, any adjustments on the ride height to counter these issues would only make their problems worse.
️ | Helmut Marko believes RB20 still has advantage in traditional circuits
“Our car has a concept where we have focused on aerodynamic efficiency and we can’t lift it off the ground to better tackle the kerbs unless we lose a lot of downforce.
I think we still have an… pic.twitter.com/aS7pPtnTAV
— RBR News (@redbulletin) June 2, 2024
The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, hence, will pose the same problems as Monaco, given its inherent characteristics as a street circuit. However, Croft believes that the team’s litmus test will come at the Spanish Grand Prix.
The British presenter believes that Red Bull’s performance at Barcelona would give more clarity as to whether the RB2o struggles only on bumpy tracks or not. If Red Bull do struggle on traditional circuits as well, then it could tarnish Verstappen’s record and throw the world championship wide open.
