As the Formula 1 title race heats up, Lewis Hamilton has taken note of Red Bull Racing’s relentless pursuit of upgrades, emphasising their continuous development throughout the season.
While Red Bull started the year with a significant advantage in pace, they have faced a competitive field and have been actively making improvements to maintain their edge.
Despite Christian Horner’s statement about the team’s focus on developing the 2024 car, Red Bull is not resting on their laurels for the current season.
They have made changes to the sidepods, radiators, and cooling system for the Hungarian Grand Prix, further underlining their commitment to staying ahead in both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ championships.
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Lewis Hamilton addressed the situation during a media briefing in Budapest, pointing out Red Bull’s proactive approach to upgrades.
He remarked, “I heard that Red Bull might have an upgrade package this weekend, once again.
“So we’ll see how that affects them. They seem to be continuously bringing upgrades on their car.”
F1 TV’s expert analyst, Sam Collins, provided insights into how Red Bull managed to implement these upgrades despite having less wind tunnel testing time than other teams, partly due to their previous breach of F1’s budget cap rules.
Collins suggested that Red Bull may have cleverly utilised the rules to their advantage, as certain redesigns, such as those related to radiators, do not count against their wind tunnel allocation.
Regarding the potential impact of Red Bull’s upgrades, Collins expressed his belief that these improvements could be worth more than the initially estimated two-tenths of a second per lap.
However, he cautioned that drastic changes to an F1 car might not yield immediate results, as demonstrated by Ferrari’s experiences at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Hamilton acknowledged the challenges faced by his own Mercedes team in keeping up with Red Bull’s developments while adhering to the cost cap and wind tunnel testing regulations.
He emphasised the importance of making strategic decisions to maximise the team’s limited resources effectively.
“You’re very limited with resources as well, so you have to be careful of which decisions you make,” Hamilton explained.
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“If you go full-steam ahead in this direction, you could lose weeks of development, it could be tenths of performance.
“So they have to be very methodical in the way they go through that process.”
Hamilton expressed his desire for faster progress in Mercedes’ development efforts but acknowledged that building competitive components takes time and meticulous planning.