2024 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

[marcel171281]

Austria is actually a good place to take an engine penalty: plenty of overtaking opportunities, 3 DRS zones, 70+ laps to make up positions....but there's a but. It's home race for Red Bull, second home race for Max, and you'll have an entire autodrome rooting for him. Will they be pragmatic enough to not care about these things ? IMHO they won't do it there if they believe they can have even a little possibility to steal the victory.

That they have broken the seal on the max allowable number of powerunits doesn't mean they won't be used anymore. They have plenty of mileage left to stretch it to Spa.

[Sergej]

yes for sure, point of the discussion is where's the best place to serve the penalty (which surely is inevitable) so that point loss is minimized; I still remain convinced they will do it in Spa or Monza, but Austria could be a good place as well, at least on paper.

[Silent Storm]

yes for sure, point of the discussion is where's the best place to serve the penalty (which surely is inevitable) so that point loss is minimized; I still remain convinced they will do it in Spa or Monza, but Austria could be a good place as well, at least on paper.

What about a confirmed wet race? We know Max can make up places if it's a wet race and chances of Mclaren messing up are higher too.

Saying that... If Mclaren messes up qualifying and qualify P8 or below, wouldn't that be the best chance for Max to take engine penalty?

[Vanja #66]

Red Bull and Max doing their thing, really good race and a very good 2nd stint. I hope his fans stop fearing for the title, RB20 is still the best car in the race even if McL38 is matching it at the moment. Max is making the difference by doing what he's supposed to do, while Norris doesn't have the stomach to fight him and Piastri is usually nowhere in the race in at least one stint

[Sergej]

yes for sure, point of the discussion is where's the best place to serve the penalty (which surely is inevitable) so that point loss is minimized; I still remain convinced they will do it in Spa or Monza, but Austria could be a good place as well, at least on paper.

What about a confirmed wet race? We know Max can make up places if it's a wet race and chances of Mclaren messing up are higher too.

Saying that... If Mclaren messes up qualifying and qualify P8 or below, wouldn't that be the best chance for Max to take engine penalty?

they're all valid points, lot of thing to take into consideration when scheduling an engine penalty during a tight WDC campaign, we all remember how in 2021 the penalty was extremely minimized by rain in Sochi

on another note, 1.9s pit yesterday, that's also how you win races like this

[Paa]

Is there any advantage for RB20 over MCL38? I mean under what circumstances we can expect the RB20 to be clearly ahead?
Like hot/cold? Rain? Or top speed? Front/back limited tracks? Is there anything?

[SoulPancake13]

Is there any advantage for RB20 over MCL38? I mean under what circumstances we can expect the RB20 to be clearly ahead?
Like hot/cold? Rain? Or top speed? Front/back limited tracks? Is there anything?

I think on heavy fuel Red Bull is still the fastest car on the grid. Additionally in qualy, the Red Bull is class of the field in high speed still.

[organic]

Forecast for the weekend is about as good as could be expected. Rain will be good for RB here as it would reduce issues with kerbs

[Paa]

Forecast for the weekend is about as good as could be expected. Rain will be good for RB here as it would reduce issues with kerbs

How RedBull came from "full domination - boring season" to "let's hope it will rain" in a matter of months.

[Silent Storm]

Is there any advantage for RB20 over MCL38? I mean under what circumstances we can expect the RB20 to be clearly ahead?
Like hot/cold? Rain? Or top speed? Front/back limited tracks? Is there anything?

I think on heavy fuel Red Bull is still the fastest car on the grid. Additionally in qualy, the Red Bull is class of the field in high speed still.

Redbull used monaco wing so obviously they were good in high speed, Mclaren didn't use Monaco wing, check Mclaren car thread and Vanja's post.

[Sergej]

Forecast for the weekend is about as good as could be expected. Rain will be good for RB here as it would reduce issues with kerbs

way too early, we saw this for Spain, rainy Sunday forecasted for many days and then it was super sunny lol

plus in Zeltweg near mountains is very difficult to predict precipitations, clouds move very quickly, we will have to wait just before the race

[organic]

Forecast for the weekend is about as good as could be expected. Rain will be good for RB here as it would reduce issues with kerbs

way too early, we saw this for Spain, rainy Sunday forecasted for many days and then it was super sunny lol

plus in Zeltweg near mountains is very difficult to predict precipitations, clouds move very quickly, we will have to wait just before the race

True but thunderstorms are predicted all week + we have competitive sessions on all 3 days so at least there's good chance for some of weekend to be rain affected

[Bill]

redbull still have the better top speed.next race is in Austria that pu works well at high altitude so expect total domination

[organic]

redbull still have the better top speed.next race is in Austria that pu works well at high altitude so expect total domination

Yes that was the idea in 2022 as well didn't quite work out though. I don't think the PU has this high altitude advantage anymore. If anything Ferrari have exceeded expectations at altitude since 2022 with their redesigned engine.

[venkyhere]

Is there any advantage for RB20 over MCL38? I mean under what circumstances we can expect the RB20 to be clearly ahead?
Like hot/cold? Rain? Or top speed? Front/back limited tracks? Is there anything?

My understanding is that there is only aspect where RB20 > MCL38 today. High-speed cornering. RB20 floor is mega (high speed cornering of RB20 without even a hint of nervousness, whilst MCL38 isn't as stable, evident from steering action by Norris). I also suspect the reason RB20 suffers more tyre wear than MCL38, despite 'more dowforce' (looked more wing in Barcelona. correct me if im wrong) is the same reason why they can't kerb ride well - super stiff front suspension, which in turn is forcing the hand to make the rear stiffer than what they would like. There needs to be some softness to roll, otherwise no matter what downforce they have, the car will slip a bit more than when the suspension is softer.

I think this is the missing link in the chain and once this is solved, RB20 will jump clear of MCL38 - kerbs will be better, tyre wear will be better, mechanical grip in slow turns will be better.