Red Bull’s F1 Upgrade Woes: Anthony Davidson Unpacks 2024 Struggles and the Quest for Performance Peaks

Understanding Red Bull’s difficulties with F1 upgrades: ‘A peak must be reached quickly’

What has caused Red Bull to face challenges in upgrading the RB20 this season? Anthony Davidson sheds light on why certain teams are finding it more challenging than ever to enhance their vehicles.

Sky Sports F1 analyst Anthony Davidson has explained why teams like Red Bull are having difficulties enhancing their performance in the 2024 season.

Several teams have faced difficulties in enhancing their cars with the latest upgrade packages.

Red Bull has fallen behind McLaren in the rankings, and Ferrari's updates for the Spanish Grand Prix caused unexpected issues, including bouncing in fast corners.

McLaren is the sole team that has successfully enhanced their car's performance without compromising its handling, with Lando Norris excelling in the most recent race at Zandvoort, cutting Max Verstappen’s lead down to 70 points.

Discussing the issue on the most recent Sky F1 podcast, Davidson elaborated on the challenges that teams face in advancing their cars.

He explained that the incremental updates being introduced can disrupt the overall balance of the car. For instance, if you're adding a new front wing and rear wing, modifying the floor, and making changes to the suspension to improve the car's performance in both slow and high-speed scenarios, it can potentially disturb the car's harmony.

“Adding more weight to the car makes it almost impossible to drive. It either doesn’t steer when I need it to, or it oversteers when I don’t want it to.”

"The engineers are puzzled. They used to believe that increased downforce, according to the old rules, would lead to faster lap times and satisfied drivers, but that’s no longer the case."

Following an impressive performance in 2023 where they secured victory in 21 out of 22 races, Red Bull has taken on a bolder design approach for this year's RB20 to maintain their leading position.

At the start of the racing season, Red Bull seemed to have made a brilliant move, with Max Verstappen securing victories in five out of the first seven races.

Red Bull has not secured a victory in the most recent five races.

Davidson referred to the case of Red Bull's affiliated team, VCARB, and their choice to discard their "brand-new enhancement."

He mentioned that if you are striving to improve because other teams are closing in on you, you might take bolder and more aggressive actions in what you aim to achieve.

"That’s the point where problems can arise. It explains why we frequently come across reports about someone introducing new updates over the weekend, only to see them switch back to their previous car a couple of weekends later. I’ve come across such instances numerous times."

"RB is the latest team to mention it – they used their older car model in Zandvoort. What became of their new upgrade? It failed in Budapest. It wasn't used in Spa and still isn't being used. The reason? It's tough to understand."

"You move closer to the pinnacle of car performance in the development race. There has to be a point where there’s almost no room for improvement left. I believe we’re reaching that stage now. We’re nearly there. They’re making incremental changes."

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