The Formula One 2024 season kicked off with an ultimate competition between three teams that are McLaren, Ferrari, and Red Bull racing. Unlike the 2023 season where Start to finish, only Red Bull had dominated and won 21 out of 22 Grand Prix. Red Bull’s Driver Max Verstappen is solely the reason for the wins as his co-driver Sergio Perez had only 2 wins throughout along with Carlos Sainz being the only non-Red Bull driver to win.
Halfway through the season
12 races into the 2024 season, and it has been nothing but a vibrant range of Grand Prix winners coming from 4 different teams. Both Ferrari drivers Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc secured first place on the podium following Lando Norris from McLaren popping a champaign on the ground amid his win in the Miami GP. Both the British teammates Lewis Hamilton and George Russell from Mercedes AMG Petronas took their wins too with Max Verstappen taking 7 wins.
Finance and competitors
The netizens and Formula One fans are saying that Red Bull’s downfall is also due to less investment into the team whereas teams like Mercedes have “heavily” invested in engineers and the production of parts. Similarly, McLaren has been top in the game with Lando Norris winning driver of the day multiple times so far into the season already which is said to happen due to the technology the papaya family has been testing. The McLaren team not only has technology but also has coordination and friendship that kept both the drivers in front-row positions in Imola.
Red Bull’s damage
Red Bull assumed that with the RB20, it had addressed the shortcomings of last year’s car, but the weekend in Imola demonstrated otherwise. It attempted to soften the vehicle, first with Perez in FP2, and then with an entirely new setup designed overnight with the support of the simulator back at the factory. Verstappen didn’t think it made much of a difference and believes that, unlike at Imola, the issue here is more fundamental and cannot be solved with a different setup. “We tried softer, stiffer, everything. But the car resembles a go-kart. Max Verstappen said: “It’s like I’m running without suspension.”
Structure of the Red Bull car on track
The car cannot run soft without producing excessive downforce. That is distinctive to the car’s idea and design. The rear suspension and underfloor design are critical components of what has given Red Bull such a competitive advantage in the ground effect era: consistent downforce across the speed range thanks to a sophisticated underbody geometry and creative suspension design. If the suspension’s roll stiffness is constrained, a high ride height and a lot of vertical travel may prevent it from having the range of motion required to absorb camber changes on the road.
Even though it’s difficult to accurately predict what the rest of the season will look like, Red Bull remains at the top of the points table. However, after two and a half seasons, the question has some clarity, as Red Bull’s weaknesses and shortcomings have been shown.
About the author
Ms Yogya Reddy is an undergraduate student at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA, studying International Relations and Affairs. She is passionate about global democracy and politics. She also enjoys working on research and writing.
