One of many greatest unknowns concerning the 2024 Method 1 season is how Pink Bull went from crushing the opposition as much as the Chinese language GP to being on the backfoot since Miami.
Max Verstappen’s victory in Shanghai, his fourth out of 5 races at the beginning of this season, got here with almost equivalent 13-second margins on the entrance in that weekend’s dash and foremost grand prix. The world champion had been just about unchallenged as much as that time (and would possible have gained Australia had been it not for his brake drawback) and there had been little indication from exterior that the RB20 was something however effectively away from the opposition.
However simply two weeks later, as F1 returned to motion in Miami, Pink Bull’s issues all of a sudden manifested themselves as Verstappen discovered himself not solely comfy with the stability of his automobile.
It was this which triggered the incident on the chicane the place he ran over the cone and that finally set in movement the occasions that handed the race to McLaren’s Lando Norris – whose group had been boosted by the arrival of a serious replace.
From that second on, the story of the 2024 season modified. Whereas Pink Bull did win once more in Imola, Barcelona and Montreal, it by no means actually returned to the extent of dominance that it confirmed earlier than the Arduous Rock weekend.
McLaren’s main automobile revamp for that occasion definitely explains quite a bit about its personal step ahead, however that others had been additionally all all of a sudden capable of threaten Pink Bull, having not been in a position to take action beforehand, is more durable to grasp.
Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, leads Max Verstappen, Pink Bull Racing RB20
Photograph by: Alexander Trienitz
It was not simply that McLaren improved; different did too and evidently Pink Bull went backwards and has not recovered since.
Talking to Autosport concerning the state of affairs, Pink Bull group principal Christian Horner stated there was no clear reply from his squad about why issues had been so totally different from that weekend.
“If you happen to had been sceptic, you’d say one thing’s modified as a result of we went from successful races as a canter,” he stated. “I used to be getting grief from Stefano [Domenicali] each weekend that the TV figures are dwindling as a result of we’re set for one more 12 months of Max Verstappen and Pink Bull dominance. There was a whole lot of stress coming, saying: ‘cease successful races by 20 seconds!’
“If one was a sceptic and considerably paranoid, you say one thing’s modified. As a result of even after we’ve gone again to the configuration of the automobile that, for instance, we had in China, we nonetheless have a number of the identical points that we’ve skilled.
“However, in saying that, it modified for everyone, doubtlessly. However I’ve by no means in a season seen a swing so exaggerated. Clearly we’ve to get on prime of that. We’ve got to grasp it.”
What may have modified?
Questions over that weekend will not be new, and varied theories have popped as much as attempt to clarify it – however nothing has hit the bullseye but.
Max Verstappen, Pink Bull Racing, 2nd place, arrives in Parc Ferme
Photograph by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Photos
There doesn’t seem to have been an FIA technical directive that got here into play that would have influenced the aggressive order.
Certainly, wild conspiracy theories that Red Bull’s drop in form was because it had had to remove an illegal asymmetrical braking system have lengthy been discounted by the governing physique – and rival groups don’t assume there was something like that occurring.
Pink Bull itself says there isn’t any apparent clarification about it having completed one thing to its automobile. Chief technical officer Adrian Newey was nonetheless with the squad at that time, and the RB20 didn’t characteristic any new upgrades in Miami that would have delivered some undesirable unintended effects.
There have been solutions that the change in type may have been triggered by some minor tweak to the tyres – however on this entrance too, there doesn’t seem like any smoking gun both.
If we wished to give you an final conspiracy, then we may think about that a technique can be for a secret tyre development change to have occurred in Miami – maybe providing a stronger entrance finish for groups that had been fighting the perennial drawback of low-speed understeer with these present technology of vehicles. Making a tweak like this may imply that beforehand effectively balanced vehicles, just like the RB20, would then have an excessive amount of on the entrance – which might clarify the change in stability traits to make the rear extra on edge.
The one drawback with such a concept a few new development tyre is that it will be towards the rules. Article 10.8.3 of F1’s Technical Laws states that the development specification of tyres needs to be decided no later than 1 September previous to the championship, with compounds sorted by 15 December.
Max Verstappen, Pink Bull Racing RB20, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38
Photograph by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Photos
It provides: “As soon as decided on this manner, the specification of the tyres is not going to be modified with out the settlement of the Method 1 Fee. However the above, the FIA might determine to vary the specification throughout the championship season for security causes with out discover or delay.”
The latter clause may have opened up a manner for an instantaneous change to have taken place with none prior warning, however there have been no security grounds that required such a transfer and any shift would possible have been made public.
With a development change due to this fact not possible, there was some consideration given to potential tyre stress will increase having had an affect in swinging the image up and down the grid.
One suggestion is that Pink Bull’s benefit seems to fall away every time the minimal pressures are raised to account for further loading – particularly at high-speed circuits.
However once more, there isn’t any clear stat that stands out on this entrance and factors to a step change that happened from Miami based mostly on the desk under.
Race minimal beginning tyre pressures for 2024 season
Races in daring gained by Pink Bull
| Location | Entrance / rear tyre pressures (PSI) |
|---|---|
| BAHRAIN | 22 / 19 |
| SAUDI | 24 / 21 |
| AUSTRALIA | 24 / 21.5 |
| JAPAN | 25 / 23 |
| CHINA | 26 / 22 |
| MIAMI | 25 / 21.5 |
| IMOLA | 25.5 / 22 |
| MONACO | 20 / 19 |
| CANADA | 23.5 / 20.5 |
| SPAIN | 25.5 / 21 |
| AUSTRIA | 23 / 20 |
| BRITAIN | 26.5 / 23.5 |
| HUNGARY | 22 / 20 |
| BELGIUM | 26 / 24.5 |
| DUTCH GP | 25 / 22.5 |
| MONZA | 25.5 / 23.5 |
| BAKU | 26.5 / 25.5 |
| SINGAPORE | 22 / 20 |
Lando Norris, McLaren F1 Crew, receives his Pirelli Pole Place Award from Mario Isola, Racing Supervisor, Pirelli Motorsport
Photograph by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Photos
Pirelli’s head of F1 and automobile racing Mario Isola says his firm is at all times attempting to minimise the events it has to raise the pressures – however it’s equally at all times combating towards elevated efficiency from the vehicles.
“Yearly after we homologate a brand new development, the goal is to have a brand new development with new supplies and new ideas inside as a way to have a stronger tyre,” he stated. “It doesn’t imply heavier, however a stronger tyre utilizing the identical stress.
“So we attempt to preserve the stress as little as attainable as a result of clearly you optimise the footprint of the tyre with a decrease tyre stress. However yearly groups improve the efficiency whereas we’ve homologated the tyre.
“Perhaps we begin the season with a decrease stress however then throughout the season we’ve to react to the enhancing efficiency with the tyre stress.”
Requested if there was an opportunity that small adjustments to the pressures at varied races may affect varied vehicles in several methods, he stated: “It depends upon the way you design the automobile.
“The design of the automobile is essential and the mechanical design and the aero package deal of every automobile is affecting tyre behaviour in a barely totally different manner. That’s why, after we homologate a brand new development, we ship to the groups a whole lot of information. There’s a checklist of knowledge within the technical directive that’s supplied by the FIA, that could be a large quantity of knowledge that they should design the automobile for the next 12 months.”
Max Verstappen, Pink Bull Racing RB20
Photograph by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Photos
Aero phenomenon
Whereas there stays no apparent reply as to what occurred to Pink Bull from Miami, it might be that the reality comes out later within the season because the squad unlocks solutions as to the sensitivities of its RB20.
At Miami, the one tweak that Pink Bull made to its automobile was the elimination of a assist for its ground edge wing that it hoped would save weight.
However possibly, because it digs deep into the information of its automobile and what was popping out of is wind tunnel and simulations, maybe one thing else could have emerged that explains what actually occurred.
This chance appears to be rising, because the group digs deeper into the traits of its automobile and recent occasions give it alternatives to grasp the place weaknesses have come from.
As Horner defined: “I believe there’s some inadequacies in a number of the instruments that we had and, as we began to push the aerodynamics of those rules, the correlation between observe and automobile, we have misplaced that correlation.
“I believe it wasn’t actually till the downforce got here off the automobile at Monza that it actually highlighted the place the problems had been coming from.”