Red Bull Upgrades Still A Big Question As Imola Approaches!

Red Bull, if it might not be way off the mark, are perhaps the only team on the current grid that is both struggling and cruising. The former given the simple reason that they didn’t really begin the 2022 world championship on a bright note following a double DNF at the Bahrain night race. And the latter, given the fact that while Perez managed a fine P2 at Australia, his maiden podium of the season, Verstappen, who has had the ignominy of suffering from a DNF already, claimed a fighting win at Saudi Arabia.

And while the embattled team has had its nose in front of the Ferrari in, at least, one of the three races held so far, one can’t help but think that the reliability issues may still be hurting the Christian Horner-led side.

What was a fantastic sight, particularly from a Ferrari standpoint was to see Charles Leclerc hitting a fantastic grand slam, the first of his career, at Australia. But what wasn’t, was to see defending world champion Max Verstappen bowing out with just a handful of laps to go at Melbourne hampered by a fuel system fault.

What is known is that prior to the start of this brand new season, Ferrari, easily Red Bull’s numero uno rival this season, spent noticeably more wind tunnel testing time. Resultantly, the SF-175 has considerably benefitted when compared to the Red Bull. While this was a result of the Scuderia stable finishing lower than Red Bull in the Constructor Championships (of 2020 and 2021), the longer duration spent on improving and testing the car has helped the Maranello-based side a great deal.

But going forward, Red Bull would want to get rid of the reliability issue plaguing the car as early as possible, provided they desire staying long in the fight with Ferrari where the Driver and Constructor titles are concerned. Which is why there is a lot of interest in whether the Milton Keynes outfit is planning on bringing any upgrades to Imola, the fourth Grand Prix of the season.

Is Red Bull actually bringing upgrades for next race?

So what are the Red Bull upgrades going to be like, if at all? And how far could they go in ensuring that the Verstappen-Perez driven team cover lost ground?

Here’s what team principal Christian Horner had to say on an issue that is a burning subject as the Formula 1 entourage prepares to land at Imola, the venue where Verstappen clinched a memorable win last year ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

“I wouldn’t say a big package planned, it’s all part of [an] evolution,” Horner said when asked if Red Bull had major developments in the pipeline for Imola. And of course, being a sprint race, you get very little time to evaluate these things. So we’ve got one session, and then you enter qualifying. You’ve got to be very confident about what you’re putting on the car.”

That being said, purely from a Red Bull perspective, none of the fans would want to see their racing idols- whether Max or Sergio– suffer from the balancing issues they faced in the last Grand Prix at Australia.