Red Bull Chief Reveals Big Issue in Italy: 'We Simply Don't Understand'

Alex Harrington | Aug 31, 2024

Christian Horner, Team Principal of Oracle Red Bull Racing, speaks at the Red Bull Fan Zone, a private event at Oracle headquarters, on Wednesday October 18, 2023. / Jay Janner/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK

Red Bull's Team Principal, Christian Horner, recently admitted a serious concern affecting the team’s performance during the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. He revealed the team's confusion over inconsistent lap times, which have left both drivers, Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, struggling during qualifying. Verstappen and Perez secured seventh and eighth positions respectively, marking a notable dip from Red Bull's typical dominance.

Verstappen’s performance, in particular, raised eyebrows, as it was his worst qualifying result since the Singapore Grand Prix in 2023. He managed to deliver his best qualifying lap in Q2 on used tyres with a time of 1m19.6s. However, when it came to Q3 and the fresh tyres, his performance dropped to a 1m20s lap time.

Horner expressed his bewilderment over these results:

"It’s very tricky. We simply don't understand how we did a 1m19.6s on scrubbed tyres and then couldn't go faster on new tyres than a 1m20s, the balance just isn't there," he told Sky Sports F1, via Crash.net.

There's obviously a deeper, more troubling issue within the team’s vehicle dynamics and tyre performance that is yet to be fully understood.

The Milton Keynes squad has been grappling with a series of underwhelming performances recently, sparking concerns regarding their position in the F1 constructors' championship. Despite making adjustments, such as reverting to an older floor specification in the previous race at Zandvoort, the team still struggled significantly. Verstappen, running the older spec floor, finished over 22 seconds behind race leader Lando Norris, indicating that these changes failed to alleviate the underlying handling issues.

Horner highlighted that despite using an older spec floor to potentially remedy these performance anomalies, the team faced the same fundamental handling problems.

"The reality was we still had the same handling characteristics and issues with that with the earlier spec from the beginning of the year," he noted. "An awful lot of data for the guys but a lot to get our head around."

The inability to optimize lap times on new tyres will be a significant detriment to Red Bull’s performance, especially as other teams like McLaren, Ferrari, and Mercedes show noteworthy improvements.

“We need to address it quickly. We can see that the McLarens have made a significant step over the last few races. We’re now behind Ferrari and Mercedes here as well. A lot to do. Race points are tomorrow but obviously starting seventh and eighth, that’s going to be tough,” Horner conceded.

Red Bull must expedite their problem-solving strategies to remain competitive, and the next few races will test their ability to adapt and innovate, especially as rival teams continue to push the envelope.

“We’re looking at everything. We ran an older spec last weekend to see if that addressed the issues at all."