RB CEO Peter Bayer has conceded the team made a mistake in rushing through the latest upgrade package to its 2024 Formula 1 car amid a drop in competitiveness.
The Faenza-based squad had emerged as the leading challenger behind the leading quartet before the Spanish Grand Prix with points finishes in four straight rounds.
But while several new parts brought to Barcelona heightened expectations it could overhaul Aston Martin, RB has endured a difficult time understanding the revisions.
RB’s building momentum came to a crashing halt in Spain as both drivers slipped to Q1 eliminations, prompting the team to split components in Austria last weekend.
Although Daniel Ricciardo managed to race to a ninth-place finish at the Red Bull Ring, the Australian proclaimed that RB overachieved in relation to its outright speed.
Bayer has explained how the success RB experienced earlier in the term with fast-tracking developments was behind the choice to bring updates earlier than planned.
“We kept pushing at the factory to bring the upgrade again, a race early,” he said. “Originally, the plan was to bring it here.
“But as we’ve taken the risk of bringing a big upgrade to Miami, we thought that it’s better to bring them to Barcelona. We were pushing the team very hard.
“We had perhaps not done all the analysis we should have or needed, in fact, to have all the bits and pieces ready.
“It was a bit of a belly flop, perhaps, but we’ve learned from it. We took it back to the factory. This morning, we’ve run very different packages on both cars to provoke data.”
Meanwhile, RB Team Principal Laurent Mekies revealed that it opted to use the Sprint race last week to run its cars in alternative specifications to bolster its learning.
“In the few days since Barcelona, everyone at the factory and at the track has been working hard on extending our understanding of the updates we introduced in Spain as part of our aggressive development programme,” he said. “That work continued here during the only free practice session, while the sprint [race] also provided us with valuable data.
“It is never ideal to do specifications comparison during a Sprint weekend, but we felt that it was a necessary investment for our midterm future.
“The team and drivers did a very good job putting together the best configuration possible for Saturday and Sunday.”
Heading into this weekend, RB Technical Director Jody Egginton has confirmed that the Italian outfit will converge the two cars to a single aero package at Silverstone.
“We have learnt a lot about our recent aero updates in Austria and from this we have been able to converge to a single optimised aero package for Silverstone,” he said.
“It has also been good to see the results from these experiments feeding directly into our aero development process, which I am confident will provide a tangible benefit.
