Dr Helmut Marko admits that Red Bull’s developments did not work properly during the Spanish Grand Prix. Red Bull’s rivals benefited from significant improvements in Barcelona, but the RB20 brought its share of new features.
“The developments did not work from the start” admits the team’s consultant, who explains that the correlation is not completely accurate. “We bring things that are much better in theory, but we don’t implement them on the track.”
McLaren’s Lando Norris finished seconds behind Max Verstappen on Sunday and was annoyed that only a poor race start cost him victory at the Spanish GP. On a circuit where Red Bull was favorite, this confirms the end of the team’s clear domination.
“Verstappen is still happy here because he won” said Fernando Alonso after the finish. “Norris has improved a lot, but he didn’t win the race. Mercedes has also taken a step forward, but they are light years away from Red Bull or from fighting for the championship. And Ferrari is a great team, but they’re not even on the podium.”
Former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher is convinced that the season is not over yet, given the respective dynamics between McLaren and Red Bull, and he told Sky Deutschland: “If the trend continues, Lando Norris can fight for the world championship.”
“We need to take back control”
Verstappen himself was worried about not having had the fastest car, even though he was easily the best performer in the first stint of the race, like at Imola: “We never had the speed that McLaren had, and we weren’t good enough with the tires.”
“So we won, but we didn’t have the fastest car. I’m happy to win, of course, but we can’t continue like this all season. I’ve been worried about this for a while. subject. We must regain control of the situation.
James Allison, Mercedes’ technical director, declared that Red Bull’s developments were regressions. What Verstappen vehemently denied again yesterday: “It’s bullshit, of course.”
“The upgrades are certainly improving the car, but everyone around us is just making more progress than us. I was hoping we’d be in the lead at this type of track, but we’ve seen over the last few races that it’s more and more difficult.”
For his part, Sergio Pérez reached Q3 but only qualified eighth. After starting in 11th position due to a penalty, he moved up to eighth place in the race but did not understand how his car worked.
“The important thing now is to improve the balance. This is something we are working very hard on with the engineers, with aggressive changes over the weekend, which I think are not working. We really need to understand this problem and it is more important than anything, at least for me” said the Mexican.
