‘Risks’ With 2024 Red Bull May Not Pay Off – Wache

'Risks' With 2024 Red Bull May Not Pay Off - Wache
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY - JULY 19: Pierre Wache, Chief Engineer of Performance Engineering at Oracle Red Bull Racing attends the Team Principals Press Conference during practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Hungary at Hungaroring on July 19, 2024 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202407190886 // Usage for editorial use only //
'Risks' With 2024 Red Bull May Not Pay Off - Wache
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY - JULY 19: Pierre Wache, Chief Engineer of Performance Engineering at Oracle Red Bull Racing attends the Team Principals Press Conference during practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Hungary at Hungaroring on July 19, 2024 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202407190886 // Usage for editorial use only //

Red Bull’s technical director admits “risks” the team took with its design of the 2024 car may not have paid off.

For much of the year, the earlier-dominant Formula 1 team was marred by a leadership power struggle, including a scandal involving boss Christian Horner and a female employee.

Following the woman’s appeal, the investigation has now been closed.

“All stages of the appeal process have now been concluded, with the final outcome that the appeal is not upheld,” Red Bull GmbH, the team’s parent company, said in a media statement.

“The internal process has concluded.”

During the process, Adrian Newey was reportedly uncomfortable about the situation – and he ultimately decided to quit Red Bull. He is now strongly linked with a move to Aston Martin for early 2025 and beyond.

At the same time, Red Bull and Max Verstappen’s dominance faded at the same time. Technical director Pierre Wache was asked by Auto Motor und Sport if he thinks the team’s decision to change direction with the basic concept of the ultra-dominant 2023 car for this year was a mistake.

“We assumed the competition would catch up quickly,” the Frenchman answered. “So we took some risks. Now it looks like it didn’t pay off as much as we had hoped.

“But this risk was necessary,” Wache, 49, added. “We have the oldest wind tunnel, so the detailed work suffers. We knew the others would optimise their concepts sooner or later. So we needed a radical step.

“Taking risks is the mentality of this team, but I can’t judge yet whether it was a good or bad move. Perhaps at the end of the year we will come to the conclusion that it would have been better to develop the concept we already had,” he said.

Wache, however, revealed that Red Bull will introduce “a few more upgrades” in the second half of the season to try to maintain its lead in both championships.

Red Bull’s F1 consultant Dr Helmut Marko laments that the team cannot work on its problems during the August break shutdown. “That means the big solution cannot come in Zandvoort,” he told his latest Speed Week column.

“We are brainstorming intensively and have various ideas. But I cannot say yet what we will implement and how,” Marko, 81, added.

“But we were the fastest in Austria and also in Spa, so we are complaining at a high level,” the Austrian said.

Comments

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

More in News

F1 Grand Prix Of Australia Qualifying

McLaren Go One-Two In Melbourne Qualifying

The first qualifying of the 2025 season ended with an ...
16 Scuderia Ferrari Australian Gp 2025 Friday 8ab12c0d Ff94 4751 Ad83 255bf2aa9cc8

Ferrari Giving Lewis Hamilton ‘Time’ To Speed Up

Charles Leclerc could "send Lewis Hamilton into retirement" this year, ...
F1 Grand Prix Of Australia Qualifying

Marko Trumps ‘Pessimistic Verstappens’ In Melbourne

Dr Helmut Marko is trying to stay upbeat about Red ...
F1 Grand Prix Of Australia Practice

Red Bull Keeping ‘Close Eye’ On McLaren Wings

Red Bull is keeping a "very close eye" on McLaren's ...
F1 Grand Prix Of Australia Practice

Red Bull Relieved To Be ‘Not Far’ Behind

Dr Helmut Marko sounded relieved as practice action kicked off ...

Trending on F1 Chronicle