Two years of being the technical frontrunner, two seasons of breaking records. It’s an overused expression, but in this case, it’s perfectly fitting: in the “F1 2.0,” Red Bull is in a league of its own. In many races, it was evident that the Anglo-Austrian cars had such a performance advantage that other cars seemed to belong to a less technologically advanced series.
Financial constraints and the Aerodynamic Test Regulation system, which penalizes the best teams with fewer hours of development, didn’t help. Neither did the penalty, which further reduced wind tunnel work hours and CFD tokens. They remained undeterred, dictating terms to a bewildered and unresponsive competition.
Red Bull used to run alone
Two championships in which Max Verstappen and his team became accustomed, except for increasingly rare circumstances, to being on their own. How many races have followed the script of a start, a solitary escape, and a victory? Living consistently in a particular condition risks causing addiction. You get used to considering that context so granted that it becomes the operational standard.
If in Red Bull they thought this for some time, now they are beginning to understand that the framework created axle after axle, screw after screw, may not be enough to guarantee a well-deserved advantage. In F1, it’s destined to be nullified by the control authorities that want to limit the gaps and due to the ability of competitive and technically prepared rivals to catch up.
In 2023, the performance gap between the more structured teams widened. Ferrari and Mercedes distanced themselves from Red Bull, losing themselves in their respective concepts before realizing, quite harshly, that the path they had taken was essentially wrong, sending their cars into a standstill. Hence the need for a very conspicuous philosophical shift on the W14, which abandoned its compact forms but also on the SF-23, which gradually began to move toward the principles postulated by Adrian Newey, which are better aligned with the current regulatory framework.
The path appeared immediately difficult, as the results did not arrive immediately, and more in-depth work will be needed to present more radically modified cars, probably in 2024. The McLaren has been more effective in the technical shift, as it began to follow the principles that emerged on the RB18 last year and, in Austria, arrived with a massive update package to find the key to a car that has done nothing but grow, becoming the second force on the grid, even though the standings say otherwise due to the delay accumulated in the first part of the season.
Red Bull: Helmut Marko warns of McLaren’s comeback
The growth of the Woking franchise has not gone unnoticed. In Milton Keynes, they have their antennas raised and have begun to sniff the danger. McLaren, with its recovery capacity in progress despite the many regulatory constraints that restrain certain momentum, is becoming a reality that begins to be feared for 2024.
The super Austrian consultant has observed how Zak Brown’s team, skillfully led by Andrea Stella, managed to recover ground thanks to the latest innovations introduced from the Austrian GP onwards. With the latest step, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris have become the absolute protagonists in the last races in Suzuka and Losail. So much so that the Australian was able to take pole and win the Qatar sprint race.
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In Red Bull, they understand that they cannot be complacent about their triumphs and need to accelerate further during the upcoming winter break. “They are our most consistent pursuers, and they continue to gain ground. They are working very well, and all of this could turn into a tough battle for the top in the 2024 Formula 1 championship. I don’t hide a certain degree of concern,” said a very realistic Helmut Marko.
What generates some fear among the tightly knit ranks of the reigning world champions is not just what McLaren is doing on the track but what it is doing in the factory. The performance of the MCL60 is just the tip of the iceberg. Beneath the surface, Woking’s structure is huge and is developing with increasingly specific skills, tools, and resources.
The wind tunnel is operating at full capacity, allowing it to free itself from that of Toyota in Cologne, which, although valid, had the drawback of being too distant and less interconnected with the team’s analysis systems. Now the facility is integrated into the historic headquarters of Surrey County, which provides significant logistical and design advantages.
Furthermore, McLaren has definitively settled its technical department with some significant acquisitions. David Sanchez arrived from Ferrari, and Rob Marshall was poached from Red Bull. After a period of gardening, Marshall will take possession of his offices in Woking on January 1, 2024, bringing with him the methodology that allowed the Austrians to open a new era of dominance after 2010-2013. Who knows, it might be the rise of McLaren, rather than the return of Ferrari and Mercedes, that will break the new Red Bull’s hegemonic era…
Source: Diego Catalano for FUnoanalisitecnica
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