Heading into the 2022 Formula 1 season, it looked like it was Max Verstappen’s championship to lose. Not only was the Dutchman the reigning world champion, but his Red Bull RB18 looked like the best car out on track. An upgrade on the final day of pre-season testing eliminated any porposing the car had, a phenomenon caused by the ground-effect nature of the new cars. And even Ferrari, who looked to have had the strongest package in the F1-75, were concerned by the pace Red Bull had shown.
Fast-forward to after the third race of the year, and things don’t look exactly great for Verstappen. What should have been two second places and a win have been two DNFs and a win. He sits 46 points behind Charles Leclerc in the championship after two technical issues saw his RB18 break down in Bahrain and Australia. He is yet to take a pole position while teammate Serio Perez has done so, and the RB18, while possibly the class of the field, looks to be a car with a narrow operating window. The question is, what can Red Bull do to resurrect their world champion’s defending of his crown?
Eliminating The Reliability Issues, And Fast
While it might seem quite obvious, the reality is that the RB18 has had a lot of reliability issues. Out of the “big three” in F1, of Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes, the Red Bull is the only car to have had a mechanical DNF. And it had three of them, with Sergio Perez also failing to finish the race in Bahrain. That race saw both cars suffer from a fuel pressure issue, while it looks like a fuel leak was the cause of Verstappen’s retirement in Australia. Verstappen showed the car has pace with his epic win in Saudi Arabia, but while has failed two finish two races, main title rival Charles Leclerc has taken a win and second place in the races Verstappen failed to finish.
It isn’t a given that title rival Leclerc, will suffer from a similar fate regarding DNFs. The Ferrari has looked almost bulletproof, even if issues have affected the customer teams. Red Bull can’t rely on Ferrari and Leclerc suffering similar issues to get back onto terms with them. The team is also far behind Ferrari in the constructors standing too, with even Mercedes ahead of them, and the Silver Arrows are about a second off the pace at the moment. If these niggling reliability issues keep occurring, Verstappen won’t have a chance at defending his title. It’s that simple. It’s quite a shock to see how unreliable Red Bull are right now, after perhaps having the most reliable car on the grid in 2021.
Dialing the RB18 into the right window
From the outside, it looks like the RB18 is a tricky car to get into a good setup window. It is clearly fast, very fast. And it looks more in tune with what Sergio Perez can do, shown clearly by his pole position in Saudi Arabia and how strong he has been overall in qualifying. The problem is, though, the Ferrari F1-75 looks like a car that is more user-friendly. And whatever form it rocks up in to a racetrack, it doesn’t need a lot of tweaks to get it really tuned in to that specific track.
That of course is a problem for Red Bull. And a frustrating one too. Because it does look like they have a stunningly quick car, and the Red Bull Powertrains badged Honda engine is clearly as powerful as the new Ferrari powertrain. It is likely that further upgrades will help with this issue, and reduce the “peakiness” of the car. And while it might linger, Mercedes have shown that even with a peaky car, it can be dialed in and tuned to become consistent everywhere.
Reducing The RB18’s Weight
This is essentially free laptime for Red Bull. Most of the cars on the 2022 grid are overweight. It would seem that right now, only the Alfa Romeo is on the weight limit. Red Bull have already drastically shaved weight from their car to the point Mercedes are probably heavier now. But Red Bull could well be about to reduce that further, with around 7 kg potentially coming off the car for the next race in Imola. All of this is achieved with lighter materials for part construction. That could claw back any potential disadvantage Red Bull has over Ferrari, or add to the pace advantage the car has, and perhaps even bring it into a better operating window.
It Isn’t Over Until It’s Over
The saving grace for Verstappen right now is that his two DNFs have happened early in the season. If this was happening with five races to go, it would be impossible at night to get back into the title fight. But it is only coming up to race four, and there is a lot of time to put right the wrongs. And bad luck will affect Leclerc at some point. Perhaps not in the same vain, but it will come. It is just the law of the racing Gods, even if none of us want to see mechanical issues impact a title fight. It isn’t time to hit the panic button just yet. But Red Bull need to get on top of things quickly. There is a big chance for their first constructor’s title in nine years, for Verstappen to make it back-to-back titles, and even Perez is right now in with a shout. Red Bull have to sort these issues out, and fast.
Sources: Red Bull Content Pool, Motorsport Magazine, Autosport
F1 2022: How Haas Have Got Back Into The Formula 1’s Midfield
readnext
About The Author
Henry Kelsall
(2342 Articles Published)
Covering anything from JDM cars to classic jets. Contributed to HotCars since the Autumn of 2018. Writes features, news and list articles.
More From Henry Kelsall
Did you miss our previous article...
https://formulaone.news/ferrari/are-f1-drivers-allowed-to-smoke
