The invincible Red Bull fell into the abyss. Did the rule amendments really stop him?
Dmitry Zakharchenko September 16, 2023, 21:45 Moscow time
Qualifying in Singapore is the defending champions’ worst failure in the last 15 years!
The qualification for the Singapore Grand Prix caused a sensation: the drivers of the Red Bull team, which has remained invincible in Formula 1 since last year, did not even make it into the top ten! In the absence of the pole favorites, a fierce fight developed with the participation of three teams, and now they will have to fight for victory in the race.
At the same time, Red Bull doesn’t even believe in the podium. What happened to the previously unreachable champions?
More details about the qualification:
What’s going on in Formula 1 anyway? Both Red Bulls failed miserably in qualifying
RB19 defenseless
The Singapore track is treacherous in itself. In the past, Mercedes, which regularly won the remaining races, often had problems here, and now the same thing is happening to Red Bull. Even though the asphalt was repaved in the first corners, the RB19 has difficulty coping with the unevenness of the urban highway, and when braking, the car scrapes the bottom and becomes completely uncontrollable.
The team does not know the exact cause of the problems.
Photo: Mark Thompson/Getty Images
Already on Friday it became clear that something was wrong with Red Bull, but during the night the engineers made some progress: in the third practice, Max Verstappen moved up to fourth place. However, the fast laps were difficult for the Dutchman, who did not always keep up with the leaders. Therefore, the team went further and continued changing the configuration in the chosen direction, but it went too far. “We expected the car to do what we wanted,” the Dutchman would later say.
Problems already arose in the first segment: Verstappen qualified for Q2 only from ninth position. However, Sergio Pérez set the second fastest time closest to the checkered flag, so from the outside it looked like Red Bull were doing well. Even more shocking was the Mexican’s setback in the decisive attempt of the second segment. Max completed the lap and even briefly reached the top 10, but at the last moment the championship leader was eliminated by Liam Lawson – his sister Alpha Tauri turned out to be faster than the senior team car this weekend!
The last time both Red Bull cars failed to qualify for the final qualifying round was at the 2018 Russian Grand Prix, but in that case the drivers did not pit at all. Verstappen and Ricciardo were penalized for replacing power unit components and, in any case, had to start from the back of the grid. Since 2009, there has not been a situation where none of the drivers have reached the top 10 without previously known penalties. Austrian cars have not been so defenseless for 15 years.
Marco had to apologize to Pérez:
Hamilton, leave 80-year-old Marco alone. Even if the new ethics are correct
Which is the reason?
According to Verstappen, in Saturday’s practice the car performed better than in qualifying, but not well enough: Max’s laps were worse than those of Mercedes, Ferrari and Lando Norris in the updated McLaren. According to Tobias Grüner of Auto Motor und Sport, the team decided to reduce the ground clearance, although simulation data indicated that this would be a mistake. It turns out that the reason for everything is a blind desire to be the fastest at all costs?
It would be incorrect to ask the question this way, because based on Saturday’s free practice pace, the car was only fourth fastest and Verstappen would only be sixth in terms of pure pace. It would be strange if engineers calmed down about this, threw up their hands and stopped experimenting. However, if the engineers have really gone against the predictions of their simulator, it means that all logical ideas have already been tested.
The simulator predicted problems.
Photo: Mark Thompson/Getty Images
What caused the initial problems? Why on other tracks is Red Bull inaccessible to its rivals from the first laps and now the creators of the RB19 themselves cannot understand what is happening to the car? Adrian Newey’s chassis handles the tires effectively in a wide range of conditions; There’s no obvious reason to assume it’s the tires at this point. Route configuration? In Miami and Monaco the Austrians had no problems with the configuration.
In the absence of other possibilities, the paddock suspects that the new FIA technical directive TD018 may be the cause. The ban on moving aerodynamic elements is tightened, and gossip says that Red Bull engineers had to strengthen the design to adapt it to the new rules. Whether this is true or not, the next step will prove it: if the RB19 turns out to be just as slow at Suzuka, it will be very suspicious. But it looks like Wikipedia’s numbers will remain intact this weekend.
Toto Wolf regretted his joke:
Mercedes made fun of Verstappen’s great records. Because he is incapable of more?
