Although Red Bull have lost ground to McLaren in the development race, they have maintained their advantage in the Championship. Speaking after the hotly contested Austrian GP, Helmut Marko expects the RB20 to make a step forward this weekend. With pressure rising on the factory at Milton Keynes, updates are needed to maintain their advantage.
In the earlier stages of the season, it seemed Ferrari would be the closest challenger to Red Bull. However, a series of upgrades from McLaren and Mercedes have changed the paradigm at the front.
After missing out on victory in Canada, George Russell picked up the pieces last weekend to claim his second F1 win. Toto Wolff’s team are making steady progress, with accurate correlation data allowing the factory in Brackley to be confident in their new components.
Meanwhile, McLaren are firmly at the front. They have arguably been the fastest team since Miami, with only sloppy execution preventing them from taking more race wins.
Max Verstappen seen during the FIA Formula1 World Championship seen at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria on June 30, 2024. // Joerg Mitter / Red Bull Ring // SI202406300810 // Usage for editorial use only //
Red Bull will have upgrades in Silverstone
Despite this, Helmut Marko is unphased by the looking threat posed by rivals:
“We’ll hit back,” he told OE24. “We’ll bring an upgrade.
“I also always say – our goal is the World Championship title, and the Austrian GP helped us to achieve that.”
Marko also assessed the threat posed by Mercedes:
“They are on the way up, but I don’t think they are capable of winning on their own. They still need something.”
Of course, the engineers at Milton Keynes are not the only ones working on upgrades. In fact, unlike Red Bull and Ferrari, Mercedes did not introduce a major upgrade package in Spain.
Instead, the team led by Toto Wolff will bring an upgrade package to the W15 this weekend. This will continue the strong foundation established by the team earlier in the season.
McLaren, who are already regular contenders for victory, are also expected to have updates in Silverstone. Therefore, after a relatively static situation twelve months ago, the F1 development race is at full swing.
Red Bull have admitted that finding more performance is becoming increasingly difficult. After spending so long at the front, they have not had the luxury of looking at other teams to inspire their development.
Their rivals, of course, built upon the broad concepts established by Adrian Newey and Pierre Wache.
Still, the good news for Red Bull is that Verstappen prevents their lead in either Championship from diminishing. Time will tell to what extent upgrades to the RB20 can help his endeavour.
