Can Red Bull turn the tide? The biggest challenges for Verstappen's team
General
- Ludo van Denderen
Red Bull Racing is aware. The updates - particularly to the floor of the RB20 - that the Austrian team is introducing for the US Grand Prix need to work. For Max Verstappen to have any chance at all of winning the world title in 2024 - let alone for Red Bull to still have a shot at the top prize in the Constructors' Championship - they have to work. There is no other option. Whether the updates will be successful remains to be seen. After all, Red Bull face several hurdles.
While F1 drivers are recuperating, their teams' factories are working hard to prepare for the final phase of the season. Almost all teams will introduce updates later this month in Austin. Even McLaren, the team that has been SO dominant in recent months, is trying to extract even more performance from Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri's cars with some final tweaks.
Red Bull Racing simply cannot be left behind. Yes, the team is coming up with updates, but with other teams also bringing changes, the question is whether Red Bull's developments are enough to, first of all, not widen the gap to the front of the field. Let alone get back on par with McLaren (and also Ferrari?).
The disadvantages for Red Bull
A significant disadvantage for Red Bull is that, as reigning champions and Constructors' Championship leaders on 30 June 2024, it has the least amount of time to spend in the wind tunnel and the least amount of time to use computer simulations—and McLaren, therefore, has more time. Right now, the team of Verstappen and Sergio Perez want to try as much as possible, but the success of the recent past has become a huge burden.
Red Bull's outdated wind tunnel also doesn't help. The Austrian team has to wait until mid-2026 for a new wind tunnel to come online. McLaren, on the other hand, uses a state-of-the-art facility. It is no coincidence that the British team started their march to the top of the grid almost simultaneously when their wind tunnel was commissioned.
In terms of simulator usage, Red Bull is likewise behind. Lately, a complicating factor has been the correlation between what data emerges in Milton Keynes in the simulator and the reality on track. It has been different. Think back to Red Bull's previous series of drastic updates in Hungary; they looked promising on the computer, but in practice, the team managed to get no closer to McLaren.
In short, it is certainly not certain that Red Bull will return to being the best team on the grid in Austin.