just now; F1 News: Red Bull Insider Identifies Mercedes-Related Problem Behind Max Verstappen’s Lack of Pace
Problems with simulator accuracy are causing frustration for Mercedes and Red Bull alike.
Max Verstappen’s unanticipated struggles at Monaco have been connected to more general problems at Red Bull Racing, which are similar to problems at Mercedes, as revealed by consultant Helmut Marko. The discrepancy between simulator predictions and real racecourse performance is a fundamental issue for both groups.
Differences between their extremely advanced simulators and actual circuit data have been a recurring early season stumbling block for both Mercedes and Red Bull Racing, two of the strongest Formula 1 teams. This became evident for Red Bull, especially at the Monaco Grand Prix, when the team’s top driver, Max Verstappen, tragically collided with the wall at Turn 1 on his final lap in qualifying, missing out on pole position. This was not a situation Red Bull had anticipated going into what was anticipated to be another successful season.
On the Sky Germany Broadcast, Red Bull Racing’s chief decision-maker, Helmut Marko, went into further detail about the fundamental problems.
“There was an initial belief that the season would be a huge success. And then Australia experienced its first letdown. But it’s not the tunes that are the main issue. The issue is that there is a breakdown in the linkage between the track and the simulator. We have no trouble driving over curbs in the simulator,” Marko remarked. “And that’s the issue—the automobile bounces like a kangaroo, to borrow Max’s phrase. And that’s already partially demonstrated in Imola and in the setup for Miami.
“So that’s where we need to start. However, we must make sure that as soon as we
Mercedes’ experience has been similar to Red Bull’s, despite a few distinct difficulties. After a strong performance in Bahrain, the team entered the season full of hope, but they soon encountered real-world conditions on the track that greatly differed from their imagined goals. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were significantly outpaced during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, according to Toto Wolff, the head of the Brackley team.
Only the high-speed version is causing us to lose lap time. You can only tune in so much here. We determine the type of setup range based on the direction our simulations lead us,” Wolff said. “You install the back wing, and depending on how well you set it up, you might gain a few tenths or not. However, there isn’t a wide performance range.
The reason we think the speed should be there is more basic. Furthermore, we quantify the downforce but fail to detect it in the lap time.”
