No technical 'panic' at Red Bull yet – Pierre Wache

Jul.6 (GMM) Despite the departure of Adrian Newey and ever more competitive rivals, Red Bull’s technical boss insists there is “no panic” inside the formerly dominant team.

After utterly dominating in the new ‘ground effect’ era since 2022, Ferrari, Mercedes and particularly McLaren are now closer than ever – and the latter’s Lando Norris is even shaping up as a potential title contender.

Team consultant Dr Helmut Marko admitted recently that technical upgrades and car setups are suffering from simulator-to-track correlation issues.

“It seems that the development of McLaren in particular, and Mercedes in certain areas, has been successful,” technical director Pierre Wache told De Telegraaf newspaper at Silverstone.

“McLaren took a gigantic step forward since the beginning of May, in Miami,” he added. “It’s true that the others have come closer and that we have to come up with updates that can ensure we regain the lead we had.”

Red Bull took an upgrade to Silverstone, although Max Verstappen is the only Red Bull driver with the new floor. In both practice sessions, McLaren’s Norris was clearly ahead.

“It is very important that we see that the new update gives us laptime,” Wache said, “because it also has an influence on our plans for the future.

“It’s very simple – in previous weeks, we have not always been dominant. But there is no point in pressing the panic button just yet.”

Wache says one issue is that, having aced the ‘ground effect’ rules so early, Red Bull is now hitting the limit on how much further the concept can be developed.

“The regulations have been the same for a few years now and there are many restrictions, so we are doing a lot of work for only small margins,” the Frenchman admitted.

“But I do think we can continue to develop this car and that we can still find a lot of performance in the coming period.”