Red Bull wants to strike back against McLaren in the World Championship battle at the US Grand Prix. An upgrade is intended to balance out the troubled bull car and get Max Verstappen up and running again. Formula 1 expert Christian Danner is skeptical that the turnaround will succeed. The RTL commentator believes Verstappen’s rival Lando Norris is ready for the title.
Austin is not Houston – and yet Red Bull has a problem before the Formula 1 weekend in Texas. A huge, because fundamental. The RB20, with which world champion Max Verstappen wrecked everything at the beginning of the year, no longer wants to. Not like Verstappen anymore. Especially not like his constantly troubled garage neighbor Sergio Perez. And not in the way the team’s engineers would like.
Red Bull has lost its balance. This applies to the racing team itself, whose structure team boss Christian Horner first has to get back on track as a result of his unsavory affair at the beginning of the year and the departure of numerous top employees. But this applies even more to racing cars.
A Formula 1 car that seemed to be driving on rails has become a stubborn goat, a “monster”, as Verstappen called his company vehicle at the lowest point in Monza at the end of August, when he drove behind in the Royal Park like a powerless emperor.
The balance is not right. The front and rear axles of the Red Bull are not consistent. Small changes to the setup throw the entire structure overboard. The symptoms vary from route to route and the car is sometimes unpredictable.
A gap full of puzzles has opened up between the front and rear, which the Red Bull brains are feverishly trying to fill up. In Texas, an upgrade is intended to “downgrade” the car, if you will, and bring it back to the shape that was used to in Milton Keynes.
Formula 1: Austin the last chance to upgrade, but…
The race in the USA is probably the last chance for Red Bull to turn things around in the World Championship fight against McLaren: the last opportunity to screw new parts onto the car and to understand them with a view to the remaining races.
The ride in Texas marks the start of a triple-header with the Grands Prix in Mexico and Brazil, followed by the next three-pack in the second half of November with the finale in Abu Dhabi at the beginning of December. It’s a merciless hunt that leaves no time for extensive renovation work.
“I’m very skeptical as to whether Red Bull’s upgrade for Austin and the changes to the car will bring anything,” says Formula 1 expert Christian Danner in an interview sport.de. “You shouldn’t forget: In Austin you only have an hour to set up the car in training and then you have to qualify for the sprint,” the RTL commentator refers to the special chronology of the race weekend.
Red Bull actually has to “split” and send the drivers out on the track for the opening training session with and without the innovations tested in the wind tunnel. “But whether you can convert that in two hours between training and sprint qualification…” Danner puts a question mark. “If the driver’s feedback doesn’t match the data, the driver is of course right, because he is ultimately driving the car. To understand all of this in an hour, you have to look very carefully.”
“Then Verstappen’s lead quickly melted away.”
The former Formula 1 driver bases his skepticism primarily on the bad experiences of the other teams over the course of the season. “All the upgrades – at Ferrari, at Mercedes – never worked.” Only McLaren managed to successfully rejuvenate its racing car in Miami at the beginning of May. “But they haven’t achieved anything since then,” Danner points out.
In 2024, McLaren is apparently the only team that has really understood its car and drawn the right conclusions from its concept. In the constructors’ world championship, the traditional racing team (which last won the manufacturers’ championship in 1998) has been ahead of Red Bull for several races. Very few people believe that anything will change, including Danner. “Especially since McLaren has two top drivers, Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull only has one.”
This one still has a big cushion in the Drivers’ World Championship with a 52-point lead over Norris. But the titular roast is far from being eaten.
“Verstappen has a realistic chance of saving the thing to the finish. But I’m not saying it’s an incredibly great chance,” emphasizes Danner. Given the general weather situation in Formula 1, the Dutchman could “quickly end up behind the Ferraris and Mercedes” in the coming races. Then he’ll be fifth or sixth and his lead will quickly disappear if Norris continues to win.
Shaky Norris keeps getting better
Danner thinks the Brit is definitely ready for the title. “He already has what it takes to be a world champion, but it will be put to the test every weekend,” is how the 66-year-old describes the duel. Norris is “shakier by nature than Verstappen. But that doesn’t mean that he can’t learn. So far he has continuously improved, including in this area,” Danner alludes to the challenger’s psyche.
Norris recently bluntly admitted that he struggles with extreme stress on race days. “I don’t eat on Sundays and I have trouble drinking anything, just because I’m nervous because of the pressure,” the 24-year-old admitted.
Words that Red Bull eminence Helmut Marko took up with relish in an interview with “Motorsport-Magazin.com” to emphasize the steadfastness of his protégé. Verstappen will win his fourth title in a row because he is “the best, the fastest and the safest in terms of mental strength,” said the 81-year-old Austrian.
Danner highlights another quality in Verstappen. The series champion has long been a “brilliant” administrator. According to the RTL expert, the Red Bull star could literally see “a transition” from attack to control mode.
“At some point he realized that driving from the front and winning wasn’t going to work anymore and that he had to score the points instead. That’s what he does and that’s what sets him apart. He’s an exceptional driver.” You could also say: a driver in balance.
To person:
Christian Danner (66) made the leap into Formula 1 in 1985 by winning the Formula 3000 European Championship. Until 1986, he drove in the premier class for several small teams and scored four championship points in 36 Grand Prix starts. He then drove in the US IndyCar series and became the first German racing driver to score points in Formula 1 and IndyCar. Danner won five races in the DTM between 1988 and 1996 and retired from motorsport in 1997. From 1998 to 2022 and again since 2024, the Bavarian commented on Formula 1 on RTL alongside Heiko Waßer. Danner works as a TV expert and driving safety coach. Follow Christian Danner on Instagram here!
Source: www.sport.de
