General
McLaren anxious to see what Red Bull comes up with this year
- GPblog.com
Red Bull Racing were sure of both world titles early on last year, and the RB19 didn't have any major updates towards the end of the year. But the big question is whether the Austrian racing team simply could not do so because of the penalty for exceeding the budget cap in 2021 or whether they have held onto a lot of developments for 2024. At McLaren, they think the latter is the case.
"When we think specifically about Red Bull, there's one element that obviously I think puts everyone in doubt as to what's going to happen in 2024 - and it's the fact they haven't developed their car very much," Stella is quoted by The Race. "So the question is have they cashed in, accumulated development that they will capitalise onto next year's car?"
During the season, we saw very few major updates to Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez's RB19, while other race teams did introduce rigorous new concepts. Stella's theory, however, is that Red Bull have been busy developing in the background, but they have saved it all for 2024.
What will McLaren do in 2024?
Last season at the presentation of the MCL60, it was immediately stated that they were not satisfied with the final result and that the start of the year would be difficult. So it happened, but when updates were put on the car in Austria, the Woking-based racing team improved drastically.
Stella elaborates that a lot of performance gains have still been found this winter. "You always get to the point in a set of regulations where diminishing returns set in. It could be that there's some areas of the car where you realise maybe the investment here is not worthwhile."