Formula 1

F1 News: Max Verstappen’s Red Bull Will Receive Severe Weight Reducing Upgrades In Coming Weeks

It’s been confirmed that Max Verstappen’s Red Bull will soon undergo a number of improvements that will extend his lead even further according to motorsport advisor Helmut Marko. Despite Red Bull being one of the two fastest teams already on the 2022 grid, there’s still plenty of time for all teams to made a move, and Red Bull is making its move early.

It’s fair to say that while Red Bull has had some issues with its power unit, if it wasn’t for both of the drivers’ cars retiring from Bahrain, Verstappen would have likely finished second on the podium. But after fuelling issues, this dream was torn away from the world champion. Despite this, the Red Bull and Ferrari domination doesn’t seem to be slowing, so we’ll see plenty more podium finishes as the season progresses.

Currently, both Red Bulls are struggling with their weight, but Marko has revealed that this is going to be changing soon with the team looking at using “expensive materials” to put the car on a diet to quicken their lap times even further by around four-tenths per lap on tracks such as Jeddah.

“Reducing weight means more expensive materials, which are lighter, and new parts have to be made as well. Our car is definitely more difficult to tune, but we will lose some weight in Imola,” he said.

“That should give us a significant time advantage, time gain in other words.”

Motorsport.com tell us that the team is looking to reduce overall weight by a substantial 8kg, costing an eye-watering €2 million.

What About Everyone Else?

Red Bull is not the only team looking to make upgrades. Mercedes is also looking to update its aerodynamics for the Australian Grand Prix in hopes to relieve its cars of the porpoising issues they’re having. These were expected to be finished by Imola, but with obvious performance issues, these upgrades were hurried. Further upgrades will also come to Mercedes closer to the Spanish Grand Prix.

“They are struggling,” Red Bull team principal had to say on the subject. “I have no feelings about their competitiveness.

“Obviously, I am focused on our competitiveness in what is a very intense fight with Ferrari at the moment. I have no doubt that at some point, Mercedes will join that battle but my focus is very much on our team.”

Alex Harrington

Alex started racing at a young age so certainly knows his way around a car and a track. He can just about put a sentence together too, which helps. He has a great interest in the latest models, but would throw all of his money at a rusty old French classic and a 300ZX. Contact: [email protected]

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