On the back of a truly dominant 2023 outing, Red Bull went into the current season as outright favorites to win both Championships this year. It was unthinkable that any other team would catch up or even get ahead.
The season started strong and shaped out to be another record-breaking year for the Milton Keynes-based outfit. That was until the first round of updates was introduced. Red Bull started to struggle while others, most notably, McLaren thrived. Red Bull remained a podium contender, but suddenly their close competitors were fighting for victories. Ever since, the team has worked hard to bring the car back to the top.
Following last Sunday’s Singapore GP, that ended on a positive note for the team with Max Verstappen finishing second, Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner commented about positive signs following recent improvements made to the car.
“I think that the encouraging thing was that the car reacted as we hoped it would, and what our tools were telling us, so I think that’s the encouraging factor.
“I think that the team is starting to get a direction and an understanding of where some of the limitations are, some of the causes of limitations, and that opens up development paths and veins that hopefully will be productive.”
At the base of this step in the right direction was analysing the car’s core issues. Issues that were on full display at the Italian GP in Monza earlier this month. The race could probably be considered the low point of Red Bulls season in terms of the result and pace, as they were a distant P6 and P8. But it ultimately turned out to be the starting point for Red Bulls recovery.
Fortunately for Red Bull, and other teams that are seeking to close the gap to McLaren, the extended break between Singapore and the next stop in Austin should provide valuable time to work on improvements for the car.
When confronted with doubts about potential fatigue among personnel, who were working hard to bring improvements in recent weeks and will continue to push, Christian Horner countered with a hopeful message, stating the team is massive hungry to win both titles.
Max Verstappen leads the Drivers’ Championship by 52 points, with Red Bull trailing McLaren by 41 on the Constructors’ side.
“Look, I think everybody is massively motivated in the team. We’re still fighting for both championships. We took a hit again in the Constructors’ today, but there’s still a lot of races to go and some circuits that we performed very well at in the past.”
We have observed this season that seemingly tiny changes can have a huge impact on a team’s performance. In Singapore, for example, the tyres played an important role in determining the pecking order for the Grand Prix as getting them working in qualifying was very difficult.
“You’ve seen it here again this weekend where these tyres are very sensitive.
“So, particularly at this track, they’ve been very tricky to work with.”
While McLaren appears to be the team that has struggled the least thanks to a very consistent and fast car since the Miami update, it would be remiss to count out the competition just yet. When asked whether Red Bull would bring big upgrades for the next round in Austin, Christian Horner responded carefully as they will study the learnings of Baku and Singapore.
“It probably hasn’t been finalised yet. There’s a lot of information coming out of these events that will influence what’s going on the car in Austin.
“We’ve got a lot of useful information out of the past two races. But they’re very different venues to […] the sweeping curves of Austin, Mexico. Brazil is a different one again. So, it will be interesting.”
With so many teams, potentially including Red Bull, poised to bring upgrades to Austin, it will be interesting to see whether the pendulum could swing back in their favour.
