WINGS FALLING OFF RED BULL

I’m going to take a wild guess and say you have heard the phrase  “Red Bull gives you wings” at least once in your life. However if you happen to take a peak at the recent happenings in the Formula 1 world it would appear whatever is in that drink isn’t what is being given to Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez recently. Perhaps they’re out of stock in Milton Keynes, who knows?

The Austrian outfit came out of the blocks this season the same way as they have the last two seasons with their golden boy Verstappen winning 7 of the first 10 races by June. Yet here we are 3 months later and he is still waiting for number 8, in the meantime the boys in papaya have come from the back end of the top 10 to now leading the Constructors Championship for the first time in 10 years.The red flags appeared both literally and metaphorically during the weekend. Max, normally a constant on the front row only managed sixth almost seven tenths behind pole sitter Charles Leclerc, whilst Perez despite actually posting a faster lap than Max still only managed to put his car on the second row. 

The race was a frustrating one with Max hovering around the middle of the top 10 throughout and at one point was overtaken by championship rival Lando Norris despite the Brit starting p15 after a poor qualifying disrupted by a yellow flag . Perez, often heralded as the Mexican minister of defence lived up to his name, defending from the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz. It was a gutsy effort from the Mexican until the age old saying “two into one doesn’t go” came to fruition when Perez went right, Sainz went left and ended with both of them in the Kitty litter, costing themselves and their team precious points in the Constructors race. 

It isn’t even as if this is a one time dip from them as it has been happening for a while as since Verstappen took his last win in the Spanish capital Red Bull have only managed to get on the podium twice. People will have their own opinions on what has caused the dominant team for the last two years to fall to the point where they are only occasional challengers for the podium. Such issues include Team Principal Christian Horner’s personal challenges, the 

departure of key figures within the team such as Sporting Director Johnathan Wheatley and Design guru Adrian Newey or the constant pressure put on by Max’s father Jos. However there is one underlying issue that casual fans wont remember. 

Red Bull broke the cost cap in 2021 by $2.2 million and the punishment took a while to have an impact but it’s hit like a brick now . What was the punishment? It was a severely reduced window to test their 2024 challenger in the wind tunnel. This damaged the team’s ability to improve the aerodynamics and build drag resistance on their car. In contrast, the other frontrunning teams like Mclaren, Ferrari and Mercedes have had the maximum amount of time in the wind tunnel to test upgrades which Red Bull did not, causing them to plummet down the order. 

Such a revelation and subsequent failures to maintain a top position has called into question Red Bull’s dominance over the last two seasons as it appears it was a product of cheating. After the revelation many people called for Verstappen to be stripped of his 2021 title as Red Bull were using an illegal car but they’ve luckily got away with that one in the short term. In the Long term however it’s bit them back hard.

It seems its going to be the same situation in Singapore, another street track or will Red bull be able to manage a turnaround before the end of the season to try and retain their seat on the Constructors throne for a third successive season or will Mclaren hold of them off and claim both championships. We shall see.