Over the course of the 2023 campaign, several fans and experts criticized Max Verstappen and Red Bull’s continuous dominance. However, just a year later, members of the Red Bull team have been wondering why they have not been able to discover as much performance as their competitors have this season. As the Milton Keynes-based outfit continue to find it difficult to register victories, Helmut Marko has praised his side’s outstanding strategy to help Max Verstappen win in Barcelona.
“The strategy was also optimal because it was clear that with a reasonably normal race course, it would become a 2-stop strategy”, wrote Marko on Speedweek. Many teams chose the hard tires during the second pitstop. However, Red Bull opted for the optimal soft-medium-soft strategy. Marko then praised the execution of the pitstop as well.
⏱️RACE PACE #SpanishGP
Norris was just 0.04s/lap slower than VER… despite being stuck in traffic! The NOR-McL duo was fastest in free-air
Very similar pace for:
-HAM, LEC, RUS (~0.25s/lap slower)
-PIA, SAI (~0.35s/lap slower)Alpines and HUL were way quicker than Aston!… pic.twitter.com/L74hTzwoAL
— Formula Data Analysis (@FDataAnalysis) June 23, 2024
“The tire changes also went very well. I can’t remember when we last messed up a pit stop. The praise goes to sports director Jonathan Wheatley and his motivated mechanic crew. This is a well-rehearsed and well-trained team. Hannah Schmitz also deserves praise. She always makes clear decisions”, added Marko.
F1 is a team sport where every single individual matters. Red Bull is proving that this season. Their wins in Canada, Imola, and Spain have all involved a combination of multiple variables being executed to perfection.
Tire strategy, exceptional pit stops, finding the best possible setup during qualifying, and Max Verstappen’s precision and skill are a few of those factors. These factors have helped Red Bull win races despite no longer having the fastest car.
However, Verstappen believes that Red Bull cannot be carrying on this way and need their own upgrades to keep their competition at bay for the rest of the 2024 season. Although Red Bull are undoubtedly struggling more than ever during the recent ground-effect era, if there is one team who can manage this situation, then it is undoubtedly them.
Red Bull seem to have the best strategy team and the best driver on the current grid in Verstappen. According to Christian Horner, both these played a part in helping the Dutchman win in Spain last weekend.
Christian Horner credits Red Bull’s strategy and Max Verstappen for winning in Spain
The hard tires were out of the question for the race at the Spanish GP. Yet, multiple teams opted for it for their last stint. George Russell was heard complaining about the hard tires sliding. As a result, the Brit lost P3. Meanwhile, the top 3 – Verstappen, Lando Norris, and Lewis Hamilton – all went for the optimal race strategy.
However, among the three teams, it was Red Bull who executed the strategy in the best way possible. Horner was all praises for his team as he said as per crash.net,
“Max drove a brilliant race today. Strategically we got it just right. We went for an optimum race time and it paid off. We knew the McLaren would come back with the overlap on the tire at the end of the race”.
Despite winning in Spain, Verstappen demanded Red Bull to find performance. He explained that if he’s pushing to the limit all the time, they are likely to fall short at some point. Therefore, with Verstappen and Red Bull finding it difficult to win, the rest of the 2024 season continues to become more and more interesting.
