Mercedes’ technical director, James Allison, has stirred the pot by suggesting that Red Bull’s recent upgrade on their RB20 might have actually been a ‘downgrade’.
After Max Verstappen of Red Bull secured victories in four of the first five races of the 2024 F1 season, McLaren and Ferrari struck back. Lando Norris took his upgraded MCL38 to victory in Miami, and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc clinched a win in Monaco, relegating Verstappen to sixth place.
Amidst these developments, Red Bull’s attempt at a major upgrade during the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix seems to have potentially backfired. James Allison suspects that the upgrade might have made the RB20 less competitive. Speaking at the Canadian Grand Prix, Allison noted, ‘I guess as soon as there’s a decent range of cornering speeds, they’ll be useful again, but it does look as if their upgrade was a downgrade. So, fingers crossed that would really mess them up. That [an upgrade not working] makes life hard, because the moment you stop trusting your tools, you have to backtrack, and you lose loads of time. Time is your biggest friend, losing it is your worst enemy.’
Riding the bumps and kerbs of Monaco was highlighted as a significant weakness for Red Bull. Although Sergio Perez, who recently extended his contract with Red Bull for another two years, hopes that the Canadian Grand Prix won’t pose the same challenges, he remains cautious. ‘I hope it’s not as severe as it was in Monaco with the ride issues that we had there,’ Perez said. ‘We’ve done some work, some analysis, and I think it’s great to have straightaway sort of a similar challenge to Monaco in many aspects. So it will be an interesting one, but I do expect us to be a little bit stronger. I don’t think it will be our strongest track, but I really hope that we can be fighting up there. It’s a track where you need to ride the kerbs. Riding is definitely one of the biggest talking points in this track, so I do expect to suffer a bit in that regard. But like I say, we’ve done some work, we’ve done some understanding as well, so I really hope we are able to make a good step forward in that direction.’
Meanwhile, Mercedes, who introduced a series of upgrades to their W15 across the Miami and Emilia Romagna rounds, and further tweaks for Canada, are gradually closing the gap. Allison described their progress as moving from ‘really embarrassingly crap’ to ‘near the fight’. They are still chasing the necessary improvements to fully compete with Red Bull, Ferrari, and McLaren. When asked if Mercedes is excited about Red Bull’s potential struggles, Allison candidly responded, ‘Everyone always loves other people’s misery in this game.’
Currently, Mercedes sits in fourth place in the 2024 Constructors’ Championship standings, trailing McLaren by 88 points.
As the F1 2024 season unfolds, the fierce competition among Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren, and Mercedes makes for an exhilarating race. With teams continually evolving their strategies and cars, it remains to be seen how Red Bull will address the suspected downgrade and whether Mercedes can close the gap.
Source: Planetf1
