Red Bull Cautiously Undersells F1 Package Upgrade at Imola – “All Part of an Evolution”

After a bitter-sweet Australian Grand Prix, Red Bull will want to redeem itself. And giving them this opportunity will be this weekend’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Returning to Europe after the first three races, Formula 1 will witness its first sprint qualifying of the current campaign. But this would mean only two practices before racing begins for all teams.

This is exactly why Red Bull team principal Christian Horner made an announcement. But it’s not all good news for the Red Bull faithful.

Red Bull making no new changes

The Red Bull RB18 is seriously lacking in terms of pace. Clear in the first three races, especially in the last Australian Grand Prix. Ferrari, made it look easy with a dominant display on the Melbourne track. Despite that, Red Bull‘s team principal Christian Horner has made an announcement.

“I would not say that there will be a big package expected, it is all part of an evolution. And of course, since there is a Sprint Qualifying, there is little time to evaluate the news, so we will only have one session and then we will already be in qualifying. Sure what you put on the machine,” revealed Christian.

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Because of the format of the sprint, qualifying Red Bull is cautious in their approach. Exactly why they will be extremely cautious with their approach with the RB18. But only for this race weekend. Christian explained the team is carrying the required equipment to Imola. But will carefully assess what to mount on the RB18 as it will need to work instantly. Because of to lack of free practice sessions, Red Bull will be extra careful. Additionally, make no drastic changes at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

All part of the process and learning

Christian Horner is keeping an extremely positive outlook towards the season so far. Red Bull’s reliability issues cost them precious points. But Christian believes it’s all part of the evolution of the car. “It’s part of the development of the car. I think that as we understand the tires better and how the car behaves, it will lead us to the right road to development,” asserted Horner.

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He is taking the first three races as part of the learning curve. And believes the first three races are monumental in the car’s transformation.

Talking about the fact Ferrari started the development earlier than other teams, Christian said, “Obviously they started their project much earlier than we did with ours. In this sense we know we have to work to recover.”  

Nobody is counting out Red Bull from the world championship yet. But they know there is a lot of work ahead of them to catch their rivals. And Christian Horner’s attitude is in the right place to make that happen. It’s a “when” and not an “if” situation at the Red Bull camp.