Tag: Red Bull

Will the Bulls charge into title contention this year?

Released with all the pomp and circumstance of waking up and getting dressed, Red Bull released their images of the RB16 casually on Wednesday morning like they were holiday photos. No testing camouflage, no fancy release video, no nothing. Red Bull will certainly be hoping their season will be anything near as mundane.

Starting 2019 comfortably behind Mercedes and Ferrari, their season transformed to almost becoming title contenders around the summer break before being on a par with Mercedes at the tail end of the season. If 2020 is 2019 2.0 like everyone’s being saying then, Red Bull certainly have a lot to look forward to. Plus another iteration of a Honda power unit which is becoming increasingly like a no brainer decision to move away from Renault, sorry Tag Heuer power units. That drag race between Gasly, albeit in a Toro Rosso, and Hamilton had better be a sign of things to come. Impressive doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface, especially when you consider where Honda were 2 seasons before, let alone that infamous 2015 season.

I suppose the big question is, was that end of season form as promising as it seemed or did Mercedes, having realistically wrapped up both titles by France, and mathematically by America(?), ease off a little and or reduce R&D to focus on 2020? As much as we rightly slate Ferrari for iffy strategy calls, Mercedes can just be as fallible at times, especially when under pressure, Germany and Brazil comes to mind, for example. 2017 is arguably the only time where Mercedes have had an inter team battle for the title, and even then that notion dissipated after the summer break when Hamilton wrapped up the title with more ease than I did wrapping up Christmas presents last year. Sorry dad. Verstappen pulled out some incredible qualifying efforts which, when he got his starts sorted, really allowed him to control races and force Mercedes on the back foot like in Brazil, where Hamilton pushed too hard to make amends and ended up in 7^th having punted Albon off the podium. It will be hard to see anyone but Hamilton and Mercedes putting their towels on the proverbial sunbeds, but if anyone’s going to do it surely it’s Red Bull.

One thing that would certainly help close the points gap is stability in its driver lineup. You never know with Red Bull but you would’ve thought Albon should see out a full season in the senior outfit. Whilst the difference between Gasly and Albon wasn’t exactly what you’d call stark, you would certainly say Albon was far more decisive in his overtaking manoeuvres than Gasly was which led to him being out of position on fewer occasions than Gasly. Having got the nod full time, you’d hope Alex will relax in the car a bit more and feel the need to overdrive the car much less. Having two drivers in the 2nd/3rd fastest car and neither one finishing 6^th in the drivers’ standings is either great testament to Sainz in the McLaren or a little disappointment in the drivers of that second seat at Red Bull. In the end it was probably a bit of both. All in all, the goal for Albon is clear for 2020, show he deserves a seat at the top, and close the gap to Verstappen.

Stability in the driver lineup is also helped by the contract extension of Verstappen, which is very much a clear signal of intent from all involved parties. The form that Honda is showing, plus a major rule rejig next year, plus Hamilton not being tied down; it really shows that Red Bull want to build something great for Verstappen. It’s hard to believe he’s still only 22, having been in F1 for so long now. He’s still got so much of his career ahead of him, and as Vettel and Hamilton showed, it only takes getting ahead of the curve on a rule change before you’re toppling records left, right and centre. He could very easily match Schumacher and Hamilton in WDCs.

Of course this year there’s the Dutch GP where I reckon even if it’s another French GP, the crowd alone could turn it into a fantastic weekend regardless. If he can just turn the wick down on occasion, like at a Monaco practice session to not bin it at the swimming pool, he will become a very complete driver that is more than a handful for Lewis Hamilton. 2020 might not be his year, but building more momentum ahead of 2021 will be a very ominous sign for Mercedes.

Japanese power unit means origami bull, for launch at least.

First things first, I partially take back what I said on twitter. I think it’s growing on me, this one-off livery. Now, I wouldn’t mind if they ran this during the season, I think it looks quite nice in real life. Obviously Red Bull love to run a lovely looking car for a shakedown or during testing before returning to the now iconic Red Bull colours. It may be interesting to see if a new engine partners would mean some new additions to the livery, but it’s probably unlikely. Tom Bellingham of WTF1 made the point that in hindsight the Red Bull colours will become one of the F1 classics, along with the Marlboro McLaren which stayed on the car for both Honda and Peugoet engines. However saying this, there has been some merch on the Verstappen store which does look like it would match the design for the shakedown. I don’t seem to remember there being merch for last year’s digi-bull which was only for the shakedown. Maybe I’m reading more into this than I should be.

When I first saw this car, I thought it was too red but I don’t think it’s as bad as I thought it was. The origami bull is really cool, I think it’d stand out more if the only red on the engine cover was the bull. I think the chevron design nicked from Formula E sort of works, but is far more effective with the change in texture on the physical car. The car could be considered too busy for sponsors, but I feel if they were printed bigger, or at least bolder it may work better, particularly the ones near the exhaust.

Another point of interest on the car is that it appears to have lost weight! We thought the RB14 sidepods were ridiculously slim, well these are bloody ludicrous! The coke bottle that everyone seems to talk about is much tighter this year. Hopefully this means that Red Bull are still up there as a chassis and aero package. However, Honda will be the first to tell you about issues trying to make a power unit that small. I think to put it politely, it only had minor issues during 2015. Hopefully Red Bull haven’t taken it too far. A lot depends on that power unit.

Cooking on Gas-ly

Anyone looking at Red Bull would say oh yes “Verstappen’s going to have to emerge as a strong number 1 and lead this team on now Danny’s gone.” But actually I’d say Gasly is equally important to the success of the Red Bull Honda project. He’s already on close terms with Honda, the year with Toro Rosso last year and the year in Super Formula means a very strong rapport. He knows how to motivate Honda and how they work, unlike a certain Fernando Alonso.

His performances won’t start off as strong as Verstappen, but they’ll certainly close up over the course of the season. I’d actually say that Pierre has an outside chance of winning in Bahrain. That performance last year was extraordinary. Even if Red Bull start behind the curve and look like a 4/5^th placed team, it’s certainly better off than where Toro Rosso were.

As for Verstappen, I reckon looking at the standings by the end of the year you’d say he dominated Gasly but he’ll be pushed all the way from after the Summer break onwards. He has to keep his tongue in check though. Arguably Honda are under more pressure than the McLaren days because this is going to be a title battle. The last thing you need is being told constantly that you’re underperforming. We know Max is volatile, hopefully he gets months of PR training by Gasly to show him how to get the best out of the Japanese company.

You’ve probably noticed a thread between all these posts is that a lot depends on Honda. A horrible Honda raises Renault to 3^rd in the standings, whereas a hopeful Honda heightens expectations to above 3^rd. I’m still going to say 3^rd for Red Bull this year. It might well end up being a similar year to McLaren in 2018, where they learn things about their design which was flawed. Maybe it’s too draggy as well as lacking oomph. Maybe the chassis isn’t on its own in some sort legendary tier as they claim it is. Maybe it’s none of those and it’s a pure power unit issue where it’s back to square one with lack of power, or is fast but unreliable. Ferrari and Mercedes just look too fast at the moment for them to fall away from the top, at least to me. But hey, what do I know? All I know is there’s new found hope in the Red Bull team.