Helmut Marko dismissed the importance of Red Bull’s failed crash test for 2024, which was reported some weeks ago.
In the words of Toto Wolff, Red Bull has a clear target on its back in 2024. After taking last year’s Championship in such convincing fashion, several teams are working to hunt them down.
With the arrival of McLaren and Aston Martin as regular podium finishers, the reigning Champions will have more teams to worry about than in most of the hybrid era.
The question on everyone’s lips is whether Red Bull is within striking distance this year.
Inevitably, different reports will emerge over winter. As the 2024 season approaches, information slowly filtering about predicted gains from off-season development.
The validity of this speculation is always difficult to gauge, especially since teams generally manage expectations over winter.
Another common talking point over winter is the FIA crash tests, which all teams must pass before the season begins.
Across F1 news and media circles, it has been reported that Red Bull failed their first 2024 crash tests. This has been interpreted differently by fans, with some reaching more dramatic conclusions than others.
However, Helmut Marko has a clear response to suggestions that failing the crash test is a concern:
“Ridiculous. If we had passed the first test, there would be a problem,” he told f1-insider.
“Then we would have done a bad job.”
As outlined previously, there were many different reactions on social media to the news of the RB20 failing these pre-season tests.
A brief look at the past, however, would clarify the insignificance of this failure. In Red Bull’s previous F1 Championship seasons, they also failed the first FIA crash tests.
This is relatively common across the field due to the reasons outlined by Marko above.
Rather than take a conservative approach to meet the FIA’s requirements, F1 teams typically push the limits for their first attempt.
The team’s engineers then work backwards, making adjustments to maximise performance before re-taking the test.
With the 2024 season approaching, it will take more than a standard off-season procedure to put Red Bull off course.
