F1 | A tear off at the bottom aggravated Perez's ordeal

It was 9 consecutive races – 7 last year and 2 this year – that Red Bull continued to win Formula 1 grand prix. From Singapore, the last defeat before the one that came yesterday, to Melbourne.

A defeat that leaves us with the retirement of Max Verstappen after 44 races without a technical KO, but which already on Friday had highlighted important critical issues in the management of the front tires both in relation to Ferrari, which yesterday achieved a double after 2 years, but also of McLaren.

At the end of the race, Christian Horner admitted the lack of race pace also due to tire management that was unusually far from perfect, the one that allowed him to dominate last season and easily win the first two outings of 2024.

“At team level, we simply didn't have the pace today or even throughout the weekend. We were already in difficulty on Friday and were never able to gain the upper hand in tire management.”

“We had difficulties from the start, we saw that Ferrari and McLaren were one step ahead of us. I think we simply couldn't find a balance. And there is work to do for the next Grands Prix. We have already seen last year on circuits like this, for example in Las Vegas, where it is difficult with the front axle, that Ferrari was much stronger than us and that we had problems taking care of the front tyres.”

With Max Verstappen out of the game, Red Bull relied on Sergio Perez to try to recover and finish with at least one car on the podium, but the Mexican faced a race that had the appearance of those that, last year, they brought him into the spotlight for a possible replacement even during the ongoing championship.

Horner, however, explained what further ruined Perez's weekend. “We noticed loading problems with Perez's car. A loss of almost 20 points,” said Horner. “His real pace when he was in the group with the hard tires and closing in on Fernando was strong and identical to that of the leaders.”

Alonso, while in front of Perez, removed a tear off which ended up under the bottom of the number 11 RB20, diverting some flows and thus losing several points of aerodynamic load.

“And then, as he overtook Fernando, he noticed a tear off (the film you put on the visor and removes when it's dirty) under the bottom. It lodged in an area where it causes a significant aerodynamic loss.”

“After overtaking Fernando, the car wasn't behaving as it should have. From there we started to see the degradation of the tyres, and also at the end of the second stint, which was unusual for our cars.”