Red Bull has explained the choice to remove the ‘cannons’ on its 2024 Formula 1 car at the Hungarian Grand Prix is a track-specific move that will be interchangeable.
The reigning champions provided a shock when it unveiled an RB20 boasting gullies on the engine cover which resembled those seen on Mercedes’ troubled W14 car.
But while Red Bull commenced the campaign with its pre-eminence appearing untroubled, both McLaren and Mercedes have developed to be a match in recent races.
Red Bull has reacted to the increased competition with a huge upgrade package in Budapest, which has included a remodelled engine cover on Max Verstappen’s car.
However, the revision has been listed as a “circuit-specific” change designed to help improve cooling, suggesting that the bulge could return in Belgium next weekend.
Red Bull Chief Engineer Paul Monaghan has revealed the modification has been done to tackle the track characteristics and searing temperatures at the Hungaroring.
Asked how much the upgrade was related to it being a high-downforce track and how much revolves around a long-term focus, Monaghan answered: “All of it, in fact.
“It’s linked to temperature and the track nature. So we’ll see how it pans out here, won’t we?
“If the lap times are poor in relative terms, we’ll have to consider. But our belief is we’re going forward with this.
“Everyone at the factory has done a stunning job because we got it here earlier than expected. We’ll hopefully make good use of it.”
Verstappen’s car has adopted the new engine cover, but his under-pressure Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez will continue to run the earlier-season specification part.
But Monaghan has dismissed the notion that adopting alternate cooling configurations across the two cars will pose an extra complication to Red Bull this weekend.
“More work? No, not really, because you do the two cars anyway. So the fact it’s a subtly different shape, not really, it’s not going to change our world,” he contended.
“It doesn’t change how we try to optimise it. It’s something we hopefully will dispose of by I guess Zandvoort.”
However, Monaghan disclosed that Perez will have the other upgrades that Red Bull has brought, which were accelerated amid the team’s recent minor dip in results.
“We’d looked to see how quickly we could bring this, and this is the earliest opportunity,” he divulged. “Yeah, everybody’s close to us, aren’t they?
“So we need to be at the top of our game, and this is another small step.
“The upgrades bar one part of it are on both cars, so it’s a huge statement of thank you to everyone that’s got to this point.”
Verstappen has placed an added emphasis on Red Bull’s biggest update package to date in 2024 as he suggested the team’s season could depend on them working.
Monaghan has conceded that Red Bull anticipates a noticeable step to arrive, but he cautioned that the gain in lap time will be relative to the competition’s advances.
“Well based upon the data we’ve got coming into this race, it should be valuable to us,” Monaghan addressed.
“I think really we rate it in terms of what everyone else has done, don’t we? We’ve made the biggest step we can make.
“Is it enough? We’ll find out on Sunday afternoon. That’s really the rating of it.”
Monaghan has concurred with Verstappen’s view that Red Bull’s newest components will be instrumental in establishing the development path that the squad takes.
Asked about Verstappen’s comments from earlier in the weekend, he responded: “Crucial… What is this, race 13? So we’ve got 11 to go. Much can happen, can’t it?
“So let’s see if Turn 1 on Sunday turns out as we want it to be, which is an equally crucial event, see if we can get the start and qualifying under our belts.
“All the steps can have the crucial bit applied to them, because if any of them go wrong, it dents your race weekend in one way or another.
“So we’ll try to do the best job we can with what we’ve got.
“Will we learn and go forward? Of course we will.
“If something’s not quite right with this or it doesn’t perform as we want it to do, we’ll review and see if we can figure out what’s good, what’s not so good.
“It will of course influence what we do in the future. I think every race now is getting tighter and tighter, so they’re all going to have that pressure and challenge, aren’t they?”
