Red Bull Tests at Imola, Vasseur Wrinkles His Nose: “They’ve Developed”

by VALERIO BARRETTA

Red Bull test, Vasseur turns up his nose

Before flying to Montmeló, Max Verstappen stopped in Imola to carry out a test on the 2022 RB18 as part of the so-called TPCs. These are clearly tests permitted by the regulations, which Red Bull justified with the attempt to have a reference between the behavior on the curbs of the “old” car and an RB20 which appeared to be flat or in any case with a slower development than that of the competition .

The competition itself, however, turns up its nose. For Frederic Vasseur organizing this test for Verstappen (therefore a regular driver) was an opportunity for development for Red Bull.

Vasseur’s words

“This approach to testing is clearly development-focused. A difference could be made between tests conducted with the regular drivers or with the young ones: in the first case, for me, it has more to do with development also because you do it a week before a race“, these are his words reported by The-Race. “I’m not complaining about Red Bull, I’m completely within the regulations, but that test was more development than anything else“.

“It’s clear that it was development: what you can do with a young driver is another approach“, he added. “Giving them the opportunity to put in the miles on the simulator and then develop them is another approach. We should divide these tests between days with the starting drivers and those without starting drivers“.

Different approaches

During 2024, Ferrari will conduct TPCs mainly with reserve drivers, especially Oliver Bearman who will probably make his debut in 2025 with Haas. Mercedes will also do the same with Andrea Kimi Antonelli (who has already tested the W13 in Imola), the same can be said of Alpine with Jack Doohan and Mick Schumacher