Concerns in Red Bull camp over testing results

The results of last week’s pre-season testing have started to filter in, and teams have started receiving insights on how their cars will perform when the season starts. Although the pre-season testing is not indicative of in-season performance, it still gives team members a chance to feel and assess the new cars, and also give recommendations. This is what Red Bull is currently dealing with. 

The English-based team has already admitted that the testing did not go as smoothly as they had hoped. The team’s technical director, Pierre Wache, said that weather conditions may have affected their performance, but they still achieved their aim. 

He said: “It was not as smooth a test as we expected and the team expected, but it is better to find some problems here than later down the line, and it is why we are here, to understand the car.”

“The weather was not with us and not very representative of this track, but we tried to explore the potential of the car and tried to understand how it responds to different set-ups, and I think we more or less achieved that.”

After failing to win a joint drivers and constructor’s title for a third straight year, Red Bull is not quite happy with the result and know they have more work to do: “It is going in the right direction, just maybe the magnitude of the direction was not as big as we expected and it’s something we need to work on for the first race and future development,” Wache said. 

Max Verstappen also sounded quite confident after last week’s test while accepting that they still have some more to do: “I think we had a decent last day, there were a few little problems, but overall, we completed quite a bit of what we wanted to do. 

“I think it wasn’t bad, but at the same time, there is still a bit of work to do. However, it is what we expected, and we will keep on working and keep on trying to improve. Hopefully, as we go into Melbourne, we will learn a bit more by going through all the data and see where we are at.”

Red Bull is trying to make sure their car is as perfect as possible when it hits the track in Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix. The testing has provided them with adequate information and details about their new car, along with areas to improve on before the start of the season.