Pierre Waché: “We thought we were going to be better than that. »

What assessment do you draw from the first third of the 2019 season?

I would say that we fell a little short of our expectations. In a team like ours, you can't settle for podiums. You must aim for victory. Certain aspects are nevertheless very positive, starting with our Honda engine. On the chassis side, we still have improvements to make to fight at the forefront.

What areas of improvement have you worked on in this area?

The biggest development we are making is undeniably on the aero plane. This is where we have the most freedom and also where we lack a little performance. We are also trying to improve the balance of the car mechanically. It's a combination of factors.

The aero characteristics of a car and the developments we make guide the development to facilitate the use of the platform we have.

Red Bull has always had a reputation for producing good chassis. How to explain the current shortcomings of the RB15? Did you negotiate the 2019 regulation change poorly?

We never really had the best car at the start of the season, but we are very good in development. Afterwards, our chassis is not fundamentally bad. I think that Mercedes did a great job and we need to improve. We thought we were going to be better than that.

A year ago at this time, Red Bull announced its divorce from Renault and its future union with Honda. 12 months later, is the team satisfied with the chosen option?

Observers thought it was a crazy choice given Honda's recent history in F1. We were very pleasantly surprised. This decision was made based on technical criteria. And all the promises in terms of performance and reliability have been respected. They are very serious people who want to win. It’s very compatible with our DNA.

Now that you have a factory engine supply, what differences have you noticed compared to your former status as a customer team?

The performance of a car of Formula 1, it's a whole. It's not just about integrating an engine into a chassis, it's also about developing the two elements together so that they progress and improve together.

For example, if you have a block that requires enormous cooling to create a lot of performance, it reduces the overall competitiveness of the car because you generate a lot of drag. Given that the Red Bull group teams are the only ones equipped with a Honda engine, this allows us to lead this development and collaborate on the overall performance compromise.

Find the entire interview with Pierre Waché, in issue 2220 of AUTOhebdo, always available in digital version and our Hommell kiosk.