F1 News: Red Bull Clears Air About 'Forgotten' Rear Wing For Las Vegas Grand Prix

Saajan Jogia | Nov 23, 2024

Nov 21, 2024; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Oracle Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen (1) during practice for the Las Vegas Grand Prix at Las Vegas Circuit. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images / Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has cleared up the rumors that his team forgot to bring the intended low-downforce rear wing meant for street circuits such as the one in Las Vegas. Speculation surfaced after the second free practice session that Red Bull had forgotten its low downforce rear wing and was thus running the car on the wrong wing.

The reports were likely circulated due to Red Bull's poor performance in both free practice sessions, with Max Verstappen finishing P17 in FP2. The RB20 F1 car was considerably slower by up to 7 kph on the long straight when compared to rival cars.

Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko also revealed yesterday that Red Bull didn't have a smaller rear wing as seen on rival cars, thereby hinting at a challenging weekend ahead. Horner, meanwhile, decided to elaborate on the situation further. Clarifying to Sky Sports F1 that the team had not forgotten its rear wing, as reported by RacingNews365, Horner said:

"I don't know quite where it came from.

"We don't have a specifically designed wing for very low downforce, which is potentially here and Monza.

"The money involved in creating that within the cost cap, you've got to pick and choose where you're going to spend it.

"The wing that we have, you end up trimming the wings to achieve a top speed, and that's what many of the teams have done.

"But we didn't forget our rear wing."

Highlighting the contrast in FP3, Verstappen initially complained about a severe lack of grip, even warning of a potential crash, before experiencing a notable improvement in performance after switching to soft tires. Horner added:

"We did a long run at the beginning, and I think we probably damaged the tyres a bit when the track was a bit rubbish, and then everything looks horrible.

"We then went on to the soft tyre, and the car was in a much better window, and you could hear Max was a lot happier with it. 

"When you're coming from six seconds off on a race run, to then be expected to go and deliver a lap, that's very difficult. It shows how adept Max is. It's a different formula to go six seconds a lap quicker, so there were some encouraging signs."

According to Horner, the initial challenge probably came up due to a dirty circuit that was left open to traffic before the session began, leading him to anticipate that the street circuit might remain in a less-than-ideal state ahead of the Las Vegas Grand Prix. He said:

"They open the circuit up, and it gets dirty in the day, so for the beginning of the race, the track could be in a pretty dirty state."