Red Bull should introduce new chassis features in Spain

Lagging behind in terms of pure performance compared to Mercedes et Ferrari following the change in technical regulations introduced in 2017, Red Bull Racing is counting on the return to Western Europe to get back to the level of its rivals.

This was stated by Helmut Marko, Red Bull motorsport consultant, on the F1 website. “We have two problems: Renault had reliability concerns, which slowed them down in development, comments Marko.

And we didn't come up with the chassis that we should have done. But we are working day and night to make progress on our shortcomings.

We are quite optimistic to take a significant step forward in Barcelona where a big change of parts will occur. The chassis will be “redesigned” in Barcelona and Renault is planning something for Montreal. »

Red Bull making progress

Helmut Marko also wants to highlight the progress made by Red Bull in terms of pace since the start of the year. The RB13s appeared in good form in free practice on the Sakhir track, before seeing the Mercedes and Ferraris increase the tempo in qualifying and then in the race.

The different chassis and engine developments cited by Marko could thus help Daniel Ricciardo et Max Verstappen to offer a real three-way match against the W08 and the SF70H.

“We are improving and we have gradually closed the gap – but it is obviously not enough, continues the manager.

And when it comes to qualifying, where the cars show their speed, we know Mercedes has a qualifying mode – and to some extent Ferrari too – and that helps them a lot.

And by constantly closing the gap against them, I would say that the direction in which we are moving is promising.

And since you don't have any points in qualifying, it's good news that in the race we are generally stronger if problems don't bother us like on Sunday when Max suffered a braking problem. »