Red Bull Chief Engineer Paul Monaghan has insisted the team “must not doubt our development process” when it comes to the closing battle at the top in Formula 1.
The Austrian outfit’s pre-eminence with the current ground effect cars continued at the season-opening race in Bahrain as Max Verstappen romped 22 seconds clear.
But while Verstappen would maintain that momentum to prevail in three of the following four events, the Dutchman has been defeated in two of the last three rounds.
Both Ferrari and McLaren have introduced updates in recent races that have helped to close the gap and the Italian marque is now 24 points behind in the standings.
However, Monaghan is adamant that Red Bull is not overreacting to the growing threat from its rivals and he divulged that the squad will have upgrades arriving soon.
“The visual appearance of an upgrade is not necessarily indicative of its aerodynamic performance,” Monaghan said prior to Monaco.
“It’s not like we have a car that’s off the pace that we have to potentially experiment with big changes. We have a really competitive car.
“I think we have a good understanding of the car. We must not doubt our development process. We have updates coming.”
Monaghan, who has extended terms with Red Bull, explained how the lead time on revised parts dispels the notion that future updates are a reaction to recent races.
“The increase in production needs determines when we will be able to bring it, so we have updates in I’m coming,” he elucidated.
“And it’s not something you react to because last week we were a little tight, and obviously we were beaten in Miami.
“The plan is ready and we are not lazy in making the improvements, so that when they are ready, they will be. Don’t worry, now it will be a race with more people.”
Monaghan thinks the contrasting rear wing choice between Red Bull and McLaren and the close battle at Imola shows there are alternative methods to unlock lap time.
“If we say there are three cornering speed bands, low, medium and high, there is still some dispersion, but it’s a moving target, right?” he began.
“So each circuit presents us with a series of challenges. And we just have to show up and deal with them better than everyone else.
“So if we get our lap time a little differently from our closest rivals, that’s our choice, right?”
“If you look at Imola, for example, McLaren had a different wing level to Ferrari, and a different wing level to Mercedes, as far as I know. So there are three different ways of doing lap time.
“If you put a bigger wing, you accept being slightly slower on the straight, but expect to be slightly better in the corners and make your trade.
“It establishes the demands of the front wing and influences the ride height. To open up the way people achieve lap times, cars can make their own choices. As we will do on every circuit.”
