Red Bull is slowly losing its F1 Championship lead, as legitimate concerns emerge for the Milton Keynes squad.
The RB20 saw its limitations exposed last weekend in Monaco, with Max Verstappen only managing 6th place in qualifying and the race. Red Bull was pessimistic heading into the Monte Carlo circuit, with the slow-speed corners of the Principality not well suited to the Austrian squad’s challenger. However, their status as third or even fourth-fastest team in Monaco will be the least of their worries.
Traditionally, the Monaco circuit has been something of an anomaly. During their dominant years, Mercedes were often vulnerable to either Red Bull or Ferrari at the principality. The circuit’s unique nature means that it is largely an anomaly on the F1 calendar.
However, Red Bull’s difficulties last weekend featured some recurring themes. Perhaps the most persistent is the RB20’s discomfort with bumps and curves. This is not necessarily a new weakness but has become more obvious as McLaren and Ferrari have started fighting for victories.
In addition to this problem, the reigning Champions are having correlation issues. The data generated from their simulation tools did not correspond with the reality on track.
Not only does this create question marks for development, but it also puts the team in a bad place with their baseline set-ups on Friday.
RED BULL CONCERNED ABOUT SIMULATOR CORRELATION
Helmut Marko has discussed this issue on Speedweek:
“The problem starts in the simulator, which signalled that the car was going over the curbs perfectly. Simply put, that means that the simulator and reality don’t correlate.
“And Monaco wasn’t the first race track where we had this problem. It was the first time that it was relatively severe since Singapore.
“The simulator spat out something that didn’t correspond to reality. That’s the first point we’ll address.”
Declaring a state of emergency at Red Bull would be premature. They still lead both the drivers and constructors Championships, and the RB20 is still a formidable machine.
Still, it cannot be denied their advantage is slowly slipping away. With Monaco’s crash eating away at their development budget and potentially forcing them to take a grid penalty, this is a tricky period for the Austrian team.
Whilst Red Bull’s initial shenanigans in 2024 were largely unrelated to on-track performance, the personnel at Milton Keynes are now tasked with rising to the legitimate challenge posed by McLaren and Ferrari.
Unlike last season, nothing can be taken for granted.
