Red Bull pinpoints the ‘risk’ of ground-effect regulations as rivals outperform Milton Keynes

Red Bull's Technical Director Pierre Wache has laid out the risks of the ground-effect era after the team's massive performance slump.

Red Bull pinpoints the ‘risk’ of ground-effect regulations as rivals outperform Milton Keynes

Max Verstappen, Helmut Marko, and Christian Horner (Via: Imago)

Red Bull has dominated a major chunk of the ground-effect era since 2022. Milton Keynes was untouched in terms of competition down the seasons. However, 2024 has witnessed a massive shift in the dominance of teams. McLaren has overtaken Red Bull in performance with others finally catching up. As a result, the Austrian constructor has laid out the risks of the ground-effect regulations.

Pierre Wache has shared his thoughts and concerns on the entire ground-effect era issues. Wache noted that this was the risk of the era of regulations. Additionally, the Frenchman highlighted that these kinds of issues were visible in rival teams as well in the past.

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Mercedes and McLaren faced balancing issues much like Red Bull in the 2024 season.

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That is just a risk with these types of regulations. It is what we have seen from some other teams as well, Mercedes for example have said that the balance was a big issue for them in previous years. Even McLaren had it at the beginning of this season.
Pierre Wache told Autosport

Additionally, Wache noted that perfecting the balance in the chassis during the ground-effect era was tricky. The reason was that creating more downforce in a specific area didn’t grant betterment of the balancing issues. The chassis wasn’t easily rebalanced which made it difficult to improve on that particular area.

The balance with these cars is quite tricky to achieve, because if you create downforce in a specific area of the car that you cannot rebalance mechanically, then it is difficult to use that gain.
Pierre Wache added
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Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton

Pierre Wache claims Red Bull wants ‘quickest car’ for both drivers

Sergio Perez is unable to extract maximum potential from the RB20 while Max Verstappen is managing to do so. Hence, Pierre Wache believed that Red Bull wanted to produce the quickest car possible for both drivers. If Perez received the fastest car, it would mean that both drivers could maximize points over the race weekend.

What we want is the quickest car, but in a way that can be used by the drivers, that is the main aim. If we make the car quicker in a way that Checo can use it, that means that both drivers will be able to extract the maximum out of it.
Pierre Wache concluded
Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen
Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen (via IMAGO)

Red Bull has the entire summer break to work on the issues and return back to their winning ways. The 2024 season has peaked in entertainment and competition. The coming few races are extremely crucial for Milton Keynes as they have to fend off against the in-form rivals.

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