Saturday was better than expected in Austin max verstappen Championship expectations. the dutchman saw Both McLarens out of the sprint scored eight points himself and took pole-position for the Grand Prix later that day.
Despite this, Verstappen and Red Bull were not completely satisfied with the car’s balance during the sprint. The reigning world champion said that the ride – especially at the rear – did not feel good, while senior advisor Helmut Marko said that Red Bull’s tire degradation was greater than expected.
The team believes that these issues were mainly related to the setup of the car. Verstappen explained during the post-sprint press conference that, unlike earlier in the season, the team no longer feels lost, but that some details still need to be changed after the opening of the par faire. Those changes have since been made, and Marko expects the pace of Sunday’s race to be stronger than during the sprint.
Is Red Bull able to extract potential with low ride height in qualifying?
mercedes Driver george russell However, Red Bull’s Austin points to another factor in the momentum. In his view, the difference between Red Bull’s qualifying pace and its sprint race performance circuit of america Mainly stemming from the characteristics of the car rather than the setup.
“Max was obviously very fast. It’s not the first time we’ve seen him be super strong in qualifying on a high-speed track. He was on pole at Silverstone, on pole at Suzuka, and on pole here. When the car is really low to the ground, he has really good downforce, which you have in high-speed corners.”
Russell explained that this is especially true during qualifying, when cars are pushed to their limits and cornering speeds are at their peak. This occurs when ground-effect suction is at its strongest, pulling the car closer to the asphalt.
George Russell, Mercedes
Photo by: Simon Galloway/LAT Images via Getty Images
During the shorter of the two races this weekend, Russell was able to stay very close to Verstappen and even attempted opportunistic overtakes. Asked by Motorsport.com if he was surprised given Red Bull’s advantage in qualifying, Russell explained his theory:
“No, not really, because I think their aero map is very good when the car is very low to the ground. And you have that in very high-speed corners. For us, it’s the opposite, we are very bad in these conditions,” said the Mercedes driver. “In the race, you’re going through high-speed turns, maybe 20 kilometers or so slower. It means the car is higher, so we’re not falling off a cliff and everything comes together.”
Russell suggested that Red Bull’s dominant strength in COTA becomes less effective in race conditions. With everything being at the limit and pushing the car low to the ground, Red Bull can take advantage of the high-speed performance of the RB21, while the Mercedes can’t match that extreme ground effect.
But at race distance, where skid blocks and tires become excessively worn from constantly repeating qualifying laps, the advantage diminishes – explaining why Mercedes looked relatively strong in the sprint compared to both qualifying sessions.
Mercedes in contention for US GP podium?
With that in mind, Russell is expected to play a role in Sunday’s battle, starting from fourth on the grid. “I hope we can fight for the podium. Obviously there are many different teams around us. Oscar is out of shape, and I expect him to be fast, so he needs to get there first around Turn 1.”
But mclaren The lack of data from sprint races was seen as a disadvantage, but Russell minimized this. With two safety cars, the Briton argued that no one had the proper long-term context.
“We finished two and a half seconds in front of A Williams We expected more performance from it, and we didn’t see what the McLaren is capable of. We always know that they are very special in those hot conditions. During the sprint race, what we did was maybe 10 or 11 laps. Tomorrow we have to do 55 laps,” Russell said, making it clear that the main race would be a step into the unknown for everyone – not just McLaren.
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