Max Verstappen believes his feedback was crucial in resolving the rear wheel grip issues that plagued Red Bull Racing during the 2020 season. The 2021 F1 champion explained how his team worked on developing the rear of the car, which helped achieve optimal grip and performance.
Speaking to David Coulthard in a CarNext interview, Max Verstappen said:
“I think in general our weakness was the heck, especially the year before [when] we were just really nervous in the back. That was of course our focus to make it a lot better, and all year long we tried to work on it to find more grip on the rear wheel. “
The Dutchman’s Red Bull Racing RB16, his 2021 F1 challenger, often had the best balance, but remained too short on the rear handle. Given his status as the team’s # 1 driver, Max Verstappen helped his team develop the overall package.
Max Verstappen believes it was hard to anticipate Mercedes’ performance from pre-season fighting
In the pre-season tests, Mercedes had problems with the rear balance of their car due to the shortened wheelbase, a regulation introduced by the FIA for the 2021 season. However, rumors about their struggles didn’t guarantee a drop in performance, according to Max Verstappen.
Comparing the pre-season form of Mercedes with that of Red Bull, Max Verstappen said:
“It’s always difficult in the preseason, especially [given] how dominant she is [Mercedes] were the year before. Even if they had a bad record, they had so much leeway that even with the bad record they were still ahead of the game. But then we had a good balance. We were very satisfied with the package we had and that was definitely shown on the first race weekend. ”
Given Mercedes’ dominance so far, it was difficult for the Dutchman to predict how their overall package would develop throughout the season. However, he kept his own car and his overall package in focus.
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Although Mercedes made significant improvements to their car towards the end of the 2021 season, Red Bull’s overall consistency helped keep them consistently competitive for most of the season.
Edited by Sandeep Banerjee
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