2023 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

[kediown]

https://racingnews365.nl/marko-lacht-na ... ion-hebben

Max Verstappen has taken pole for the Bahrain GP, ​​but the Dutchman himself had not counted on that. According to Marko, his team wanted to give him a different set-up, which was more focused on the race, but the Dutchman did not fully agree.
"It looked more like the test days, but we really had to give our best. However, we believe the difference will be more obvious in the race, because our tire wear is very, very good. We also have plenty of tires to test out." choice, which allows us to execute different strategies."
-Helmut Marko

Until qualifying, things did not always go well for Verstappen. The Red Bull driver struggled with the balance of his RB19 and did not always feel comfortable.

The Red Bull team also wanted Max to drive with a setup that was completely focused on the race, but the Dutchman himself wanted the focus to be partly on qualifying, according to Marko. And so, after a discussion with the engineers, a middle ground was sought.

"In terms of set-up, we sought a compromise," says Marko. "Verstappen had to have the pole position," the Red Bull advisor laughs. "That while the engineers wanted a setup focused on the race. With a compromise, we still achieved the goal."

[organic]

Fair enough lol he wanted the pole

Let's see if it becomes a daft call tomorrow. Starting from p1 rather than p3 does make things easier

[organic]

Max saying he is not happy with the car relative to how it was in testing, and they have things to look at before the next race. So there was probably a fair bit more to find in terms of setup

[Vanja #66]

Ferrari - 0.558
Red Bull - 0.973
(vs 2022 Q3 times)

4 tenths for RB, 3 of which are feom getting the car lighter, it's said RB was about 10kg heavier than Ferrari. So just 1 tenth left and Leclerc likely had that much. With a changed car and even slightly compromised with df options, Ferrari did as good a job as RB. Good work from the team

What I mentioned here about Ferrari is only half the story. I believe RB has more pace in the car than they showed because Ferrari likely has at least 3-4 tenths more in their car (confirmed by an article with Ferrari insight about losses coming from front wing etc). Really great stuff from both teams.

[organic]

Yeah seems like the car fell out of the window they had it in in testing and they'll probably work before Saudi to make sure that it doesn't happen again

[AR3-GP]

I know this is poor form not to link the source, but I read somewhere that Marko said the ride height increase didn't have anything to do with Verstappen's issues.

[Juzh]

So how can the car suddenly feel so completely different? I don't quite understand, looks like RB also don't know exactly. Could it be just general track condition? There was a lot of rubber put down during testing that got cleaned up by track workers apparently.

[AR3-GP]

So how can the car suddenly feel so completely different? I don't quite understand, looks like RB also don't know exactly. Could it be just general track condition? There was a lot of rubber put down during testing that got cleaned up by track workers apparently.

It could be related to the track rubbering in. It could be a slightly worse batch of Pirelli tires. It could be anything.

[TNTHead]

Or is it manufactured drama as a justification for a slightly less dominant pace? They could have chosen to dail everything a bit down and see if they can win even then.

[organic]

So how can the car suddenly feel so completely different? I don't quite understand, looks like RB also don't know exactly. Could it be just general track condition? There was a lot of rubber put down during testing that got cleaned up by track workers apparently.

Mercedes had the same problems yesterday vs today.

But rb having some problems despite the faster car should make things more interesting in the first couple of tracks

[AR3-GP]

This is perhaps projecting a bit, but what rear wing will RB have in Baku? Ferrari's straight line speed is ominous.

[organic]

I think RB will run single element BW with their Spa/Monza etc rear wing. Baku shouldn't be an absolutely huge worry as Ferrari are lacking mechanical grip this year so far. Also sector 2 at Baku destroys the tyres if you lack mechanical grip (as we saw with Merc in 2021 where RB slaughtered them on tyre wear)

Ultimately RB have more downforce than Ferrari this weekend (although it's close) so it's hard to say who has the more efficient car.

Plus Baku will have upgrades coming into play. RB barely had a car ready for Bahrain last year and still had their first upgrade after a few weeks into the season, so I'd expect two upgrades by the time we get to Baku. Of course Ferrari will improve before then too, probably more than RB will

And ultimately Ferrari may have built a car that's better than RB at efficiency-dependent circuits. But the RB looks very adaptable; it's strong in almost every variable with braking performance being its weakest point.

[AR3-GP]

I think RB will run single element BW with their Spa/Monza etc rear wing. Baku shouldn't be an absolutely huge worry as Ferrari are lacking mechanical grip this year so far. Also sector 2 at Baku destroys the tyres if you lack mechanical grip (as we saw with Merc in 2021 where RB slaughtered them on tyre wear)

Ultimately RB have more downforce than Ferrari this weekend (although it's close) so it's hard to say who has the more efficient car. Plus Baku will have upgrades coming into play. RB barely had a car ready for Bahrain last year and still had their first upgrade after a few weeks into the season, so I'd expect two upgrades by the time we get to Baku.

Ah sorry i meant Jeddah! But thanks for the insight on Baku, I would have asked for that eventually

Any thoughts on Jeddah?

[organic]

Oh yeah Jeddah. I predict a close fight like last season if Ferrari have sorted out some of their setup woes/understeer.

RB also have gremlins but I think it'll be close enough that whoever has the smoother weekend and strategy/pitstops will win

Maybe max will have another chance to pull out that special Jeddah lap

Saudi we will probably see the trimmed out rear wing that we saw in the low quality snapshots of Silverstone shakedown. RB also brought different front wing flaps to Jeddah compared to Bahrain last year so they might do that again. And I expect a single element beam wing

Overall I think Ferrari will be quicker on the straights by 2 tenths or so but rb edge them on traction and high-speed leading to it being roughly equal. Running lower ride heights at Saudi will help with the drag and downforce. Ferrari seem ride height-limited by the triggering of porpoising whereas RB seem to be limited by grounding on bumps (like Merc were 2nd half of last season), so the smooth surface of Saudi may help RB more than Ferrari in terms of performance

[JonoNic]

Verstappen vs Perez in Qualifying