Max Verstappen maintains confidence that Red Bull can continue to enhance the performance of their RB20 as team principal Christian Horner acknowledges they are striving for incremental improvements.
Horner mentioned that they are seeing “diminishing returns” from their development program in the third year under the current technical regulations. However, Verstappen, who cited the recent example of a revised floor introduced by the team, refuses to accept the notion that they cannot keep progressing with their car.
“I refuse to believe that because then you get lazy,” he responded to a question from RaceFans.
“I’m confident that everyone in the factory is always pushing flat-out to bring performance enhancements to the car. But, undoubtedly, there are many talented individuals in other teams who are also working towards the same goal.”
Red Bull had been the dominant team in the early races. However, they have only managed to set the fastest lap time once in the last five races as McLaren and Mercedes have closed the gap.
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Since the start of last year, while Red Bull has consistently led the constructors’ championship, their rivals have had more time for aerodynamic development under F1’s performance-balancing rules. Red Bull’s development time was further reduced as part of their penalty for exceeding F1’s budget cap in 2021.
“Naturally, having more time would always be beneficial,” Verstappen conceded. “But that’s how the rules are designed to try and slow down the leading team.
“Honestly, when you are the ones chasing, you’re content with it, and of course, when you’re the ones ahead and then being caught up during the season, you naturally see it as undesirable. But that’s how the rules are established, everyone has agreed to it, and we just have to adapt to it.
Verstappen believes Red Bull’s true potential last weekend was overshadowed by the damage to his car’s floor in qualifying and the disruptions caused by rain during practice.
“We can see the progress,” he stated. “I believe that this weekend has been a bit inconsistent with trying out a few adjustments on the car. And, of course, the weather hasn’t been favorable.
“But looking at it, if we hadn’t damaged the floor, we would have definitely been in the running for pole position. So, that is a positive.
“We just need to keep pushing. We need to continue introducing enhancements, and I trust that they will come, and hopefully they will outperform the upgrades made by other teams.”
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2024 British Grand Prix
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