How Red Bull’s past dominance hid the problems it faces in 2024

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has admitted that the team’s past dominance under Formula 1’s ground-effect regulatory era has masked “a lot of problems” with its cars.

The Milton Keynes-based outfit failed to capture its Constructors’ Championship from 2023 as McLaren and Ferrari exceeded their points tally throughout the season – the former winning after a stellar performance in the Abu Dhabi final.

Max Verstappen pointed out the car’s issues in several races throughout the campaign, starting with the Chinese Grand Prix, with former teammate Sergio Pérez also struggling to extract potential from the car.

Asked whether these issues were different from the difficulty in finding a balanced position with the RB19, which has failed to win just one race in 2023, Horner told Autosport: “I think it was exacerbated more. I think there were signs of it already last year and I think it became more intense.

“The problem is that we won 22 out of 23 races last year. It masks a lot of issues.”

On issues of data-to-track correlation, Horner explained: “It’s again something that we’re trying to understand and understand because all of a sudden you… have multiple theories. Has anything changed? Can we just use the tool The capabilities are at the limit and the cars are unified in one set of rules and so the differences you’re talking about are minor but they have a big physical impact.

“So there are many, many aspects that mean work is still ongoing. I think the encouraging thing is that the tools are now starting to match more what we’re seeing on the simulator.

“We’re talking a little bit of everything,” Horner said, noting the impact of the wind tunnel as well as the simulator. “And when they don’t connect, it’s like three clocks telling different times.

“So, who do you trust? Ultimately, you trust the stopwatch on the track because it doesn’t lie. And, of course, the biggest sensor you have is the driver and that’s where Max keyed Has played a role this year.

Following complaints from Verstappen at various points during the season, Red Bull rediscovered enough form to increase their win tally and confirm the Dutchman’s fourth drivers’ title, even if the constructors’ crown slipped the net.

When the team realized that correlation issues were affecting performance and that Verstappen’s sentiment was a good barometer for development, Horner suggested: “I think it was around those races that we won the hard way. Were staying.

“Imola – We brought an update to Imola that probably wasn’t… It made the characteristics of the car harder. And we ended up with a very small window of performance. I think the shape of our performance curve was very steep. And so essentially the car became very difficult to drive.”