Motorsport Week continues its mid-season review with Red Bull, a team now on the rise after a slow start to 2019, having taken the first two wins in its partnership with Honda.
High point: Much of what Verstappen has done
Low point: Much of what Gasly did
Red Bull was prepared to regard 2019 as a building year with Honda but it already has two victories, a pole position and has vaulted Ferrari as Mercedes’ primary challenger in recent grands prix. Its decision to say au revoir to Renault and kon’nichiwa to Honda has been more than justified, with the success hopefully convincing the suits in Suzuka to keep Honda in Formula 1 beyond 2020. Red Bull began the year hamstrung more than its opponents by the revised front wing regulations and had to get used to a new working relationship with Honda, but that it started the year with a podium was a sign of huge encouragement and sent out a signal: Honda is here to compete at the front. For large swathes of the opening events Red Bull had to bag the points and watch Mercedes (predominantly) and Ferrari (occasionally) set the pace, but updates as the European season rolled around lifted Red Bull into contention, since when it has never looked back. Chassis gains have been complemented by Honda making continual progress with its power unit, while reliability has also been strong. For a team that suffered regular failures through the hybrid era there has been just one unregistered result, which came when a driveshaft problem afflicted Pierre Gasly in Azerbaijan. “Honda is spending so much time on the dyno, and then we also find out the limits of our parts on the car,” revealed Max Verstappen. “We never had that before, so you never had an idea it was strong enough. They only way you found out is by retiring. The whole preparation to get into the season is so much better, it’s why the car and power unit is very reliable.” Operationally the team has been sharp. Its strategic superiority allowed it to split the Ferrari drivers on a regular basis early on while in Austria its approach paid dividends with victory; it missed out in Hungary but there was little it could have done to prevent that defeat.
Verstappen has now undoubtedly established himself as Red Bull’s top dog but that Pierre Gasly underperformed has cost the team a realistic shot at second in the Constructors’ Championship. For whatever reason it was unable to provide Gasly with the tools he needed, whether mental or physical, to even get close to Verstappen’s level on a regular basis. It at least has the luxury of being able to evaluate Alexander Albon but in promoting him so quickly it risks undertaking a repeat. With the package now a Mercedes-challenger on a regular basis Red Bull needs a compliant and sufficiently capable back-up for Verstappen, and that is what it is lacking. As important as Verstappen is for Red Bull’s long-term title prospects, it needs to understand and identify the best candidate for the second seat; it could afford to lose those points early in 2019 but the game has now changed.
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It is difficult to see how Verstappen could have extracted anything more from the Red Bull RB15 across the opening 12 rounds of this season. He has been largely magnificent and is transformed from the snappy and incident-prone driver of early 2018. When Red Bull could only bag the points he bagged the points, running effective but unobtrusive races, and when Red Bull has been in the ballpark he has pounced. He was unfortunate that the unsafe release cost him a podium in Monaco – and the subsequent lunge at Lewis Hamilton was worth the risk in the circumstances – while in Britain the assault from Sebastian Vettel cost him another top-three finish. He has finished each event inside the top five and has qualified there too, aside from in Canada, when a scruffy first lap and Kevin Magnussen's crash left him out in Q2. His two victories were achieved in scintillating fashion. His clinical and clean recovery from a poor start in Austria provided the platform from which he reeled in and robustly passed Charles Leclerc, while in Germany his pure pace once in the lead was mesmerising. His one-in race mistake did not cost him as it did others (and ironically helped him in winning the race) and that it is the only misjudgement of note – and came in a bonkers grand prix where nearly every driver erred – simply emphasises the high benchmark he has set. That he remains only 21, and has capacity to improve further, is thrilling and potentially terrifying in equal measure.
Live by the sword, die by the sword. Pierre Gasly was handed an unexpected Red Bull chance after Ricciardo’s exit, having been pencilled in to stay for Toro Rosso, and now finds himself back in a seat that he would have occupied anyway without the Australian’s departure. In some ways he is back on the expected career path. But that he is there just 12 races after making his Red Bull debut changes the picture entirely. No-one expected Gasly to walk into, whisper it, Verstappen’s team and uproot the 21-year-old, but no-one anticipated that the 2016 GP2 champion would be a chasm away on a regular basis. The pure statistics have made for exceptionally grim reading. 63 points to 181. No podiums to five. No laps spent inside the top three. A best result of fourth. What appeared to be early teething troubles gradually became a worrying trend. Gasly had spoken regularly of difficulty in adapting his driving style to the RB15 but for whatever reason that perfect marriage never arrived. There was a glimmer of hope at Silverstone but the following two events wrecked any optimism. Mutterings of disharmony with his race engineer persisted. While Verstappen challenged for wins Gasly could not consistently beat the midfield teams. And that proved to be the death knell.
