Full risk, full attack is the motto for Red Bull as they attempt to spoil Scderia Ferrari’s Formula 1 home race at the Imola circuit this weekend. The Austrian team will bring “small updates to the car” at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, as confirmed by Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko in a recent interview for RTL / ntv interview – even though there is only one free practice session on Friday in Imola ahead of the qualifying session given the F1 Sprint format, so there is less time than usual to test the new parts.
Red Bull “massively” on a diet
“It is very clear: “Ferrari has such a complex but easy to setup package. For us, everything has to be correctly applied to be able to compete. That’s exactly why we’re taking the risk of bringing new parts with only one practice session available. We want to fully attack and see this as our chance instead of waiting. Ferrari and Charles Leclerc are too strong for that.” – Helmut Marko explained for RTL.
Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto, on the other hand, had confirmed a few days ago that the Maranello team would not bring any major upgrades given the weekend schedule and Ferrari will therefore rely on the proven, winning package from Australia.
A luxury that Red Bull and defending champion Max Verstappen cannot afford given that they are 46 points behind Charles Leclerc. Mainly because Max Verstappen’s car still has weight problems. The Easter Bunny has put the Red Bull cars on a “massive” diet since Australia, Helmut Marko admitted with a smile. They therefore hope that the Imola changes will bring “some gains in terms of weight”. Losing weight in Formula 1 is “like people do. It doesn’t happen overnight, it’s a lengthy process because we’re a lot overweight, at least a lot more than Ferrari. If we get to Barcelona (May 20-22 , ed.) come close to Ferrari level, we are actually already satisfied.”
At the same time, the Red Bull was “more difficult to get into the right temperature window in terms of the set-up,” explained the team advisor. Ferrari, on the other hand, drives out of the garage and is immediately fast in all temperatures. “In the first two races we were at eye level with Ferrari, also in Australia in the practice sessions. In the race, we fell out of the right temperature window due to non-optimal setup changes and the rise in temperature on Sunday, we had graining early on and so ultimately against Charles Leclerc we had no chance,” Marko summed up the Red Bull disaster in Australia. However, the track in Melbourne is an “atypical street circuit” and therefore not representative for the real balance of power.
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Speaking of Mercedes, the 78-year-old has not yet written off the Silver Arrows despite a weak start to the 2022 Formula One season. The fact that Mercedes is in front of Red Bull in the standings with a car “that is certainly not among the three fastest shows how solid this package is. At some point they will fix their issues, the aerodynamics will work,” predicted Marko. “At the moment they are one second behind in qualifying, half a second behind in the race and not a direct opponent for us. But that can change relatively quickly. They will certainly have a say in the World Championship.”
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