Red Bull has attributed the team’s shock decline in the 2024 Formula 1 season to enduring complications with correlation between the wind tunnel and the race track.
The then reigning champions began the previous campaign appearing poised to dominate again as Max Verstappen headed three 1-2 finishes in the opening four races.
But having made it seven victories in 10, Red Bull then went on a 10-race winless run as misguided developments accentuated the balance troubles with the RB20.
Verstappen’s excellence limited the damage as he retained the Drivers’ crown, but Sergio Perez going 19 rounds without a podium saw it miss out on the Constructors’ title.
Red Bull Technical Director Pierre Wache, though, has insisted the squad’s storming start came as a shock, with the closer end to 2024 more aligned with its expectations.
“The season was basically as challenging as we expected,” Wache told Autosport.
“I would say we were more surprised at the beginning of the season because of the gap we had. We expected the whole season to be like the end of the season, a big fight with the others.
“We didn’t expect such a big hole in the middle of the season ourselves, but we did expect a big fight with others.”
Red Bull’s correlation issue
Wache explained how Red Bull’s problems emanated from the parts it introduced not matching the simulations the team’s ancient wind tunnel model had suggested.
“There are multiple aspects to that story,” Wache, who signed a new deal last term, began.
“The first one is the correlation, that the car had some different characteristics than what we expected in terms of aero.
“Another aspect is that we didn’t expect some elements would affect the car performance as much as they did.
“They were not there by desire, but maybe we didn’t focus enough on them. Those elements were still there at the end of the season and we have to fix them for 2025.
“We had a loss of downforce in some areas of the [downforce] map and therefore we didn’t perform on track as we thought we could based on the wind tunnel, so there were some holes.
“That is a correlation issue and in terms of delivery on track it was mainly a balance issue.”
Red Bull’s kerb-riding weakness
Red Bull’s issues were exposed more on circuits where riding bumps and kerbs was essential to producing lap time, which reared its head at the Monaco Grand Prix.
Wache has detailed how Red Bull noticed that limitation in the nascent races, but guarded against wholesale changes amid concern that it could upset its advantage.
“I think we spotted it, but after that the car was quick and we didn’t want to modify it massively,” he documented.
“When we came back to Europe and were challenged more by McLaren, then it started to become more and more evident that it was one of the biggest issues for us to go quicker.”
Wache has also claimed that Red Bull’s win at the penultimate race in Qatar validated the team’s decision to elect against reverting to an earlier-season specification.
“In Qatar the car had the same characteristics and we were able to win fairly and make the quickest car for this track,” he pinpointed.
“So performance is always relative to the others.”
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