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Red Bull is set to experiment with its Formula 1 car specification at the Dutch Grand Prix in pursuit of the problems that have left Max Verstappen unhappy and contributed to Sergio Perez's extensive struggles.
After a dominant start to 2024, Red Bull and Verstappen are on their longest winless run (four races) since 2020, as McLaren and Mercedes have emerged as consistent threats.
Verstappen has raised concerns about Red Bull’s development as this streak persisted despite a major aerodynamic upgrade at the Hungarian Grand Prix, which theoretically should be on both cars at Zandvoort this weekend - after it was fast-tracked and only on Verstappen’s at the Hungaroring - given it is a special high-downforce package.
While this bodywork should be on at least one RB20 on Friday, practice is set to be spent trialling different set-up items and car parts.
World champion Verstappen did not comment on this specifically on Thursday at his home race but spoke of a need to “understand the car a bit more” after an effort to “analyse a lot over the break and try to do things maybe a bit different or better”.
“The situation that we have been in the last few races, we want to come out of that and learn maybe a bit more from the car and be more competitive,” he said.
Team-mate Perez was more explicit. He admitted that “there's been an upgrade or two that probably took us in the wrong path,” and strongly hinted that different parts would be on the car on Friday - either for him versus Verstappen, or for both cars compared to the pre-summer spec.
Even if Perez uses some of the high-downforce bodywork that made its debut on Verstappen’s car in Hungary, there is expected to be some mixing-and-matching of parts around that. The floor is likely to be a ‘new’ version that is a hybrid of previous designs
“It's clear now where we are with the car. It's something I want to keep within the team, the level of detail,” Perez said.
“You will see what we're going to be doing with the cars. It's something that will stay with the team, but we've taken somewhere a turn that isn't right.”
It could be that Red Bull only tests some items back-to-back in Friday practice, then converges on the same spec for both cars for the rest of the weekend, with a mix of Hungary and pre-Hungary components across the bodywork and floor.
Whatever the outcome will only be a short-term measure to mitigate against the weaknesses that have been discovered, with upgrades to hopefully fix the problem not due for a few more races.
And it is possible that Perez runs a different spec to Verstappen given he has had his own issues over the past three months.
Asked specifically about going back to an old spec, Perez replied: “We'll see. We'll definitely try a lot of different things.
“It's something we've certainly taken a wrong direction with, but obviously it's not so easy to fix. And not so quick.
“With the lack of practice we might face and different types of circuits coming up, it's not so straightforward.”
Thursday at Zandvoort marked the first time Perez spoke to the media since Red Bull opted to keep him in the car for the rest of the season – a prospect he continues to insist was purely speculation.
“The meeting had nothing to do with the drivers, it was all about performance,” Perez claimed.
But it was key to preserving his seat, for now. Where Perez is right is that performance also matters and there are some firm changes being made to try to unlock it.
In addition to car experiments, Perez has a rejigged engineering team here, as regular race engineer Hugh Bird prepares to go on paternity leave.
That impending absence has created a timely opportunity to give Perez a new voice in his ear, something The Race believes could be a permanent move. Perez says “that's not the plan at the moment, but obviously we'll see how everything goes”.
“It's becoming a lot clearer for all of us where we are, where we have to work on,” said Perez said of his engineering team, which Bird is still supporting before his leave begins.
“It's been very positive I would say.”
