Will Red Bull make a comeback at the Dutch GP? This question has been haunting our minds for a long time now. It’s been two months since we saw Max Verstappen on the top step of the podium. However, with Adrian Newey’s departure, the squad has gone haywire. The upgrades haven’t worked, the drivers are losing out on crucial points and the situation is unfavorable, is redemption truly on its way?

Some recent revelations from Pierre Wache, the new Chief Technical Officer of Red Bull, can crease your eyebrows. Wache is Newey’s heir in the Austrian team, he has been actively holding command since the aerodynamics wizard’s departure announcement. So, what is the new tech chief worried about? What is Red Bull dreading ahead of Max Verstappen’s home race?

Adrian Newey‘s successor highlighted the challenges in predicting the performance of upgrades and expanding the RB20’s working window.“It’s very easy to find more downforce, but very difficult to place it where you want it. This then creates instability. These effects are difficult to correlate. With these ground-effect cars, you can have a lot of unexpected surprises.” Looks like Pierre Wache has observed balance issues with the RB20s. We’ll talk a bit more about this in detail, but let’s see what else he said.

Wache says it’s difficult for the team to adjust the current working window, likely due to budget limits that, if exceeded, could cause issues for the team. Moreover, “We have changed the concept of the car to increase the window, but unfortunately, we have lost our way a little,” admitted Adrian Newey’s current post-holder. This could be a hint towards the hidden dreads that have Red Bull perspiring with worries. Moreover, these problems could be the after-effects of Newey’s exit from the team, who knows?

Red Bull didn’t have to worry much about downforce as long as Adrian Newey was around

There is a list of endless reasons why Adrian Newey is the greatest aerodynamicist in F1’s history. The British genius’s creations throughout his 19 years at Red Bull have brought seven driver’s championships and six constructor’s championships. Under Newey’s supervision, the team reached great heights of glory and dominance. However, as the 65-year-old maestro stepped down, one after the other, problems began to show up.

What’s this downforce issue that Red Bull is currently facing? So according to the new Tech Chief, Pierre Wache, the team is facing problems with the placement of the downforce which eventually is disrupting the balance. This is something that Mercedes has suffered with for the last few years and McLaren faced the issue at the beginning of the season. The floor and wings of the car are special aerodynamic features that facilitate the downforce in doing its job – balancing the car when it’s speeding around the tracks.

This was Adrian Newey’s expertise. He knew exactly what changes would be needed for each track and chalked out his plans accordingly. Well, it looks like Pierre Wache is struggling to do the same. Of course, the RB20 is Newey’s creation, so maybe Wache is finding it difficult to handle it. Moreover, if this continues, then the Dutch GP could also be a blunder- risking Red Bull’s championship dreams.

But then this is Red Bull we’re talking about! The team has previously tricked the audience into believing nothing is working out for them, however, they’ve always emerged glorious. So, we have to keep a close watch on the RB20 in Zandvoort to know how true Pierre Wache is. What do you think?