Heading into the Las Vegas Grand Prix Max Verstappen has a 62-point advantage over his nearest rival, Lando Norris. For the Dutchman to wrap the championship up in Sin City, all he needs to do is finish ahead of the McLaren.
However, problems surfaced during practice when both Red Bull cars rounded out the session in 17th and 18th, respectively. The team struggled with top-speed performance in the straight, with data showing the car to be 7km/h slower than its rivals.
Following the session, the issue Red Bull was facing was revealed.
Unlike other teams, Red Bull hasn’t created a low-drag rear wing, which means for high-speed tracks like Monza and Las Vegas, the RB20 struggles. This meant the mechanics had to modify the existing rear wing in hopes of finding more speed without compromising reliability.
“We opted to not make one, we don’t have one,”
“So this is already from 2022, I think we just never thought we would run it that low. And then with the budget cap, you choose your priorities and we shifted that.” Verstappen said to media after qualifying in fifth place. However, the three-time world champion was half a second off George Russell’s pole position time.
“We would have liked to have a lower wing, a lower-downforce wing, or at least a different shape, a more efficient shape.
Leave a Reply