Red Bull have lost two of their last three F1 races and Max Verstappen’s triumph at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix came only after he managed to hold off the returning Lando Norris, who finished the race behind him .
While Red Bull’s difficulties have focused on the RB20’s problems with curbs, Mercedes technical director James Allison thinks the situation may be more complex.
According to him, in fact, the large package of updates that Red Bull brought to Imola and which included a new floor and a front wing may not have produced the desired pace, which could explain his difficulties.
“I guess as soon as there are some high-speed corners they will come in handy, but it seems like their upgrade was a downgrade,” Allison explained at the Canadian Grand Prix of what he believed was happening to Red Bull. “So, fingers crossed, this could put them in trouble.”
“This makes life difficult, because the moment you stop trusting your tools, you have to go back and you lose a lot of time. Time is your greatest friend, losing it is your worst enemy.”
When asked if seeing Red Bull rejoin the group gave Mercedes a spark of excitement, Allison replied: “In this game everyone loves other people’s suffering.”
James Allison, Technical Director, Mercedes-AMG F1 Team, at the Team Principals Press Conference
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Mercedes has made further updates to its W15 for this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, to help reinforce the impact of the new front wing used by George Russell in Monaco.
The team hopes that the changes, which have included some revisions to the front suspension, will help improve the car’s performance in high- and low-speed corners.
However, while Allison believes progress has been made with the car, he didn’t want to get too carried away with the overall situation of the cars ahead.
“I must confess that I am not thinking about it in general terms,” he said. “I just think that the current situation seems to be better than that of two races ago. I hope that in a couple of races we will be a little better.”
“We went from being embarrassingly bad, not good enough, at the beginning of the year, to being close to contending. A little bit more will get us into the fray.”
#Allison #latest #Red #Bull #upgrade #downgrade
