If alarm bells have rung at Red Bull, they certainly didn’t start to be heard only after Zandvoort, but several events before the summer break, when the trend was that of a McLaren growing and, at times, a reference. However, the 23 seconds of gap gained by the Woking team in Holland added another piece to an already complicated picture, with Helmut Marko admitting that he sees both titles at risk: not only the constructors’, but also the drivers’, despite the 70-point margin.
Perhaps the most significant aspect of the weekend, beyond the pure gap in terms of time, is that Red Bull actually expected to be able to get back into the fight for victory on Sunday, especially if Max Verstappen had managed to gain the lead in the race, and then gamble it on degradation. The plan, however, showed several flaws, because after just a few laps it became clear that the three-time world champion did not only not have the pace to extend his lead, but not even to defend himself for long.
At that point, immediately overtaken by Norris and with a car increasingly difficult to drive, for Verstappen the home appointment turned into a long procession to the finish line, but with a deficit of 23 seconds that left many doubts about the effectiveness of the RB20 in Holland. Let’s try to find out in Zandvoort that McLaren proved so dominant and where the gap gained by Red Bull comes from.
A track well suited to McLaren
Despite being relatively short, Zandvoort is an extremely technical track, thanks to long medium and high speed corners, combined braking and some low speed areas where it is also essential to exploit the kerbs with a relatively soft set-up. Already in free practice on Friday, McLaren seemed to like these characteristics, which are well suited to what have become the car’s strong points, as seen in Hungary and, although not so markedly, also in Spain.
“We saw in Barcelona and Hungary that when we have these long, medium-speed corners, the car behaves very well,” summed up Andrea Stella, Team Principal of the Woking team. If last year the RB19 was a global car, capable of holding its own in a wide range of situations, this year the MCL38 has stolen the baton.
Aspects that emerged very well in Zandvoort because it was able to combine performance in long corners, where it excels aerodynamically, with a soft mechanical sector that proved effective on the kerbs and in low-speed sections. On the contrary, Red Bull is holding on to what has now remained its true and only strong point, namely performance in high-speed corners, where stability is needed and where a combination of aerodynamic and mechanical factors still make the RB20 queen, especially on the single lap. An aspect to take into consideration, especially looking at the progress of the race.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
The differences in setup
The different setup configurations chosen by the two teams also played an important role. While McLaren showed up at Zandvoort with a new rear wing that could fit one level below the Monaco one in terms of downforce, guaranteeing better top speeds, on the other hand, Red Bull made a change on the fly.
Initially, both Verstappen and Perez had started with a medium-high downforce configuration but, before qualifying, a last-minute change was made on the Dutchman’s car alone, switching to the most loaded wing available, effectively opting for a configuration similar to the one used in Monaco. A choice dictated mainly by concerns about degradation arising from the limited data recorded between Friday and Saturday, so much so that, in reality, Verstappen was the only one to switch to an additional set of hard tyres, also giving up a set of softs in FP3.
However, this choice did not have the desired effect for several reasons, as highlighted by Chris Horner: “We took a bit of a risk, because we thought the degradation would be quite high. So we increased the downforce level a lot, as much as possible. It was a gamble. However, the degradation was very low and we were slow on the straight with Max,” added the Red Bull Team Principal.
Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB20
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
In fact, going to observe the telemetry references already on Saturday, it emerged that on the straights McLaren managed to gain something on Verstappen, while the margin widened even more clearly with Perez, around 5/6 km/h faster than his teammate.
The gamble of the most charged winger did not pay off
Undoubtedly that speed gap on the straight is not the only reason for the debacle but, in the overall calculation, it played a role, especially when those who should have been the elements of strength were missing, also making it easier for Norris to overtake him.
Mercedes aside, degradation was quite limited for everyone, so much so that, for example, for a moment Nico Hulkenberg caressed the dream of finishing in the top ten with a strategy that involved running 57 laps on the hard tyre, at least before a collapse right at the end. This aspect, also linked to the low temperatures and the harder compounds brought to Zandvoort, a type with which it has often found itself at ease, allowed it to maintain a constant pace, thanks to a set-up that never over-stressed the tyres.
The paradoxical aspect is that, in reality, the one who had problems with degradation, but more than with pure consumption of management of the operating window, was Verstappen’s Red Bull. From the first laps it was clear that Max did not have the pace to escape but, as the laps went by, it was increasingly difficult for the Dutchman to contain the rival behind him.
The fact is that the advantage in the high-speed corners seen on the single lap with new tyres did not then recur in such a marked way on Sunday, while the McLaren continued to be very effective in the long and interconnected corners, as well as in the slow ones with good mechanics in the traction phase which reduced the sliding of the left rear under stress in the long corners.
“Checo had less wing and in the second stint I think Checo was faster than Max. So, maybe it was a wrong decision that we made with Max. We suffered in terms of top speed and actually we didn’t gain anything in terms of degradation,” Marko explained at the end of the race, implying that, as a result, McLaren had also found a more effective compromise in terms of downforce.
When Verstappen’s management problems began, his Red Bull became even more difficult to drive, with those balance difficulties already experienced on other occasions that the Dutchman has been complaining about for months now, so much so that he simply wanted to bring the car home and secure a vital second place for the drivers’ standings. During the weekend, in fact, on Verstappen’s car alone, Red Bull went back to the bottom of some solutions from the beginning of the year, precisely in search of answers and better balance, but there is still work to do.
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