Red Bull targets Ferrari and Mercedes with major Austria upgrade package

After finishing the Spanish Grand Prix in fourth place with Max Verstappen, around 40 seconds behind winner Lewis Hamilton, Red Bull is planning to bring a major upgrade package, not only to improve the car’s aerodynamic performance, but also to make it lighter, which will have a big impact on the car’s handling.

According to Team Principal Laurent Mekies, the package alone will not be enough but it’ll help Red Bull close the gap to the other three top teams.

The Spanish Grand Prix weekend was a difficult one for Red Bull, as it highlighted the RB22’s weaknesses compared to other cars. After a very positive and encouraging performance in both Canada and Monaco, Red Bull massively struggled in Barcelona, not only during qualifying but also during the race.

The RB22 performs at its best on the straights and in very slow-speed corners, where mechanical grip is needed. It’s not a surprise though that Verstappen got on the podium in Montreal, a stop-and-go circuit, and fought for pole position in Monaco, another layout where the chassis and the mechanical grip make a huge difference.

However, the car is still suffering in the medium and high speed corners and this limit emerged both in Suzuka and in Barcelona as well. The RB22 generates way less downforce from the floor and the bodywork compared to Ferrari and Mercedes.

This puts the tyres under greater stress in the corners, causing them to overheat and above all causing them to degrade much more quickly on high fuel load.

In Barcelona, this weakness was also amplified by the hot conditions and the softer compounds brought by Pirelli for this season, two aspects that made tyre management more important than ever.

“I think we were expecting a reality check in Barcelona. First track with a long straight, the medium-speed, high-speed corners, it's probably the first time after China and Japan where we come back to this sort of track. So we are expecting certainly a different performance compared to Monaco, where we could certainly fight for pole position,” explained Laurent Mekies at the end of the Spanish Grand Prix.

Another weakness the car still has compared to Mercedes and Ferrari is the additional weight, which has been reduced a little compared to the beginning of the year with the package introduced in Miami, but which still constitutes a major limitation, especially on tyre degradation.

For this reason, the team will introduce a major upgrade package in Austria next weekend, to shave off more weight and improve the performance of the car, especially in the high-speed corners.

When asked about this topic after the race in Barcelona, Mekies answered as follows: “Obviously, our next big one is in Austria. But, you know, it's only as good as the real lap time on track it brings. There is no doubt that the Austrian package alone will not be enough. We know we'll have some further steps needed. Closing the gap trajectory that we have been on since post Japan is that we continue to get closer, that we don't talk about anymore about four tens, but hopefully about less.”

"The plan is to get the car to eat a little bit less there, and to get on a bit of a diet,” the Frenchman said with a smile.

Red Bull Ring will represent a true testbed for the updated car. Again this year, there will be no Sprint format, allowing the team additional practice time to work on the car before qualifying., comparing runs between the two cars and comparing the data collected on the track with that seen in the simulations.

Furthermore, the presence of medium and high-speed corners will allow the team to verify how the new package impacts the car's performance.

The Red Bull Ring also puts a lot of stress on tyres, especially on the rear axle in the race configuration, due to the presence of many slow-speed corners and traction zones. For this reason, it’ll be useful for Red Bull engineers to effectively see whether the updated version of the RB22 will have closed the gap to Mercedes and Ferrari in terms of tyre management.

Ultimately, Red Bull's home race in Austria could be a real turning point for the team's season, as if the new package works and they manage to close the gap to the top teams a bit, then they could have a chance of fighting for the podium on more favourable layouts this summer.