“Yuki’s Gonna Beat Max”: Fans Cook Wild Theories as Red Bull Fails to Hide New Rides Before Las Vegas GP

It’s almost time for the inaugural Las Vegas GP, and drivers and teams couldn’t be more pumped up to visit Sinc City. In anticipation of the spectacle Formula 1 has promised, Lewis Hamilton is releasing a Vegas-inspired capsule collection for his +44 store. Daniel Ricciardo is going to do something similar. Even teams have changed things up, tweaking their cars and race suits. Ferrari unveiled a new livery—the classic Ferrari red with hints of white all around to give it a realtor look. While the Scuderia just changed its livery a little, it looks like Max Verstappen and Red Bull have changed their entire car!

The Las Vegas GP weekend will see temperatures drop to 4C. What’s the one Achilles’ heel Red Bull’s seemingly unbeatable RB19 has? Tire warm-up when temperatures don’t favor them. It struggled during the Canadian GP, and it looks like Verstappen and Red Bull could struggle in Vegas as well. But they seem to have found a way around it because fans spotted a new car heading to Vegas. But it wasn’t just a Red Bull thing. Looks like AlphaTauri’s on board, too. 

What are these new Red Bull and AlphaTauri ‘cars’? Per a post on Reddit, they look like jet-powered water rafts. One can only assume that these are meant for another one of those chaotic challenges Red Bull and AlphaTauri do together. Or maybe they’re just for marketing purposes. Imagine the Red Bull- and AlphaTauri-branded rafts floating around in the Bellagio Fountain. 

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The rafts obviously aren’t the ‘cars’ the two teams will use for the Las Vegas GP, but that didn’t stop fans from cooking up wild theories on Reddit.

Max Verstappen has a “new aero package” for the Las Vegas GP

Considering the rafts were being transported in broad daylight, can anyone blame fans for coming up with random theories? Well, we guess not. Here are a few of them:

The rafts (or the raft-like vehicles) clearly have no wheels or tires. They’re meant to float on water. Guess what that means? “Can’t have tire heating issues if you don’t have tires. Absolute genius”

What else is genius? To understand that, let’s go back to the Austrian GP, or even the Qatar GP. Remember how drivers suffered due to track limits? Sergio Perez took himself out of qualifying in Austria because of track limits. Well, since these rides aren’t made for asphalt… “Way to beat track limits, just don’t set down on the track. Genius!”

There’s this rule in Formula 1 according to which the team that finishes first in the championship gets the least wind tunnel testing time. And the team that finishes last gets the most time. Wind tunnel testing is crucial to figure out a car’s aerodynamics. Looks like Red Bull—considering it’s won the championship—will use the Las Vegas GP for extra testing time. “RB creating their own wind tunnel time in the race.”

Here’s another one: “The new aero package is on the way, boys and girls.”

While some fans could only think of on-track action, others couldn’t help but think these rafts would be used for a Red Bull challenge. “I wonder what kind of weird challenge Redbull have come up with this time for the drivers.”

Whatever it is, “Yuki [Tsunoda is] gonna beat Max at this too!” Remember how the little Japanese driver beat Verstappen in the Mega Truck Racing challenge? If that’s anything to go by, Yuki Tsunoda will get another opportunity to beat the Dutchman! 

How come? Because “Yuki is a pro at all of these Japanese game show vehicles.”

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What do you think Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda’s new rides for the Las Vegas GP weekend are all about?