Like half the world, Robin Frijns is wondering how Red Bull has been overtaken by McLaren in such a short time. He believes this is not a one-off incident.
“What’s going on at Red Bull? Why have they suddenly lost so much speed? What I’ve heard from Spanish media is that the FIA has found something, or that other teams have complained about something specific on Red Bull’s car and that they ultimately had to adjust it. As a result, they would have lost a lot of speed.
I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s true. Because in Formula 1, the competition between teams is fierce, everyone is watching each other. That’s what makes the sport so fun, I think. Each team tries to discover the grey areas in every field. Look at Mercedes a few years ago when they suddenly came up with the DAS system. That was a, let’s say, dark grey area. But such things make Formula 1 so interesting.
In Formula E, you don’t really have that. Well, in the software field, but you don’t see anything on the cars. After the first race in Mexico, we had a discussion about Porsche. They had discovered something in the grey area: at the start, the cars had full traction control. Interesting, but also very complicated. They were able to use it for one race, then it was banned.
‘You see McLaren growing, this is not an incident’
Now that Red Bull, or rather Max, is no longer half a second faster than the rest, you see the team making strategic mistakes. Quite surprising. After all, Red Bull is the standard, in everything. People wonder if the decline might be due to Adrian Newey’s departure. Personally, I don’t think so.
Newey is the most experienced man in aerodynamics at Red Bull. But many people within the team have been trained by him. He doesn’t build the car alone. If Newey drops out, the Red Bull train will definitely keep rolling. What could become a problem: Newey takes his ideas to another team. By the way, I expect him to go to Aston Martin, not Ferrari. Newey wants to stay in England in his old age.
The fact that McLaren has overtaken Red Bull is also because Red Bull itself had to take a step back. If you lose three tenths yourself and the competitor wins two tenths, that half a second is already explained. It must have been something big that Red Bull had to change in that gray area. That doesn’t take away from the fact that it’s impressive where McLaren is now. Last year at testing they were nowhere, and now the car is running like a charm. I think we should not underestimate the influence of team boss Andrea Stella here.
You see McLaren growing, this is certainly not an incident. They have two young drivers with Lando and Oscar who have more or less the same driving style. This also helps with development. McLaren will go all out for the championship. If it really comes to a fight, I think Max will be under more pressure than Lando. In Hungary, the team made mistakes, Max clearly wasn’t enjoying himself, took some risks here and there. If you have a few races like that and Lando takes advantage, it can go quickly. McLaren has nothing to lose, Red Bull everything.”
