Red Bull engineer suspects Ferrari developed car through for Monza

After a series of disappointing races, Ferrari had pole position at home circuit Monza. To the surprise of many, who previously saw the fast track as one where Red Bull would do well due to the Austrian team's high top speed. However, Red Bull suspects that Ferrari's speed could well have been special to Monza.

Paul Monaghan is chief engineer at Red Bull and has his suspicions, he says Motorsport-total.com. With the 75th anniversary of the Ferrari brand and 100 years of Monza, it would be a fairytale come true if one of the two Ferrari drivers took victory there and ended Max Verstappen's dominance. So Monaghan would not be surprised if the Italian team placed extra bets on their home race.

'Ferrari further developed car for Monza'

But they are only conjectures, he stresses. Limited by the budget cap, teams have to be careful with their resources and cannot come up with custom designs for that particular circuit before every race. Especially the championship-leading teams are limited: they face additional constraints with, for example, less time in the wind tunnel. For these teams, it makes more sense to make choices where they want to perform better and come up with expensive, new parts like a new floor there and come up with minor or no updates at circuits where they are already performing well.

So Monaghan finds it plausible that Ferrari may have taken previous races as they came and performed there to the best of its ability with a less ideal car, while in the meantime the car continued to be developed with an eye on the fast Monza circuit. But the Red Bull engineer does not think it is only from further development. A beefed-up engine could also have helped to improve performance over the weekend. The coming races will show whether Ferrari can maintain its speed and compete for wins again.