F1 finally returns at the Dutch GP this weekend. The situation remains tense for Red Bull, who will hope Sergio Perez can rediscover his best form. However, even if Perez elevates his level, there are fears about Red Bull’s downward development trajectory. Based on comments from the team and external observations, Christian Horner’s team is struggling to unlock more performance.
Red Bull continue losing ground to rivals
The last significant upgrades introduced from the Milton Keynes factory were at the Hungarian GP. The Austrian outfit brought a series of revisions to the RB20, including changes to the front wing and bodywork.
Red Bull were already falling behind McLaren and Mercedes before the mid-season break. Both teams have made far greater progress than Red Bull over the course of 2024.
If it weren’t for Ferrari’s derailed development programme after the Spanish GP, the Scuderia would likely be faster than Red Bull as well.
Regardless, the reigning Champions were disappointed with the performance delivered by their latest updates. Whilst they unlocked some impact, the improvement was minimal.
Considering these were the RB20’s largest package of the season, this is a huge concern.
Set-up adjustments at the subsequent Belgian GP did little to help the team, either. Mercedes and McLaren were comfortably faster than Red Bull, even without introducing major updates.
Limited prospects for the rest of 2024
As outlined previously, Red Bull’s biggest issue is that they have already spent a large portion of their development budget.
After the upgrades brought to Suzuka early in the season, the latest version of the RB20 in Hungary was meant to be a huge step forward. Instead, it confirmed the team’s deficit to the other front-runners.
McLaren, the closets rivals to Red Bull, last brought major updates to the Miami GP in early May. However, they still significant improvements in the pipeline for the second half of 2024.
Assuming that McLaren can unlock even a small step forward, it will extend their advantage over the rest of the field.
Considering that Red Bull could begin reverting to older specifications of the RB20, they have little chance of countering McLaren or Mercedes’ progress.
Senior personnel have already conceded the team could be approaching the performance ceiling with this concept.
