After every Formula 1 race, driver Jeroen Bleekemolen shares his findings in an exclusive column for Formule1.nl. Who or what caught his eye, what went well, and what needs to change? This time: the possibility for Max Verstappen to close the gap during the break in the coming weeks. Or not.
Read more PREMIUM: Race Special GP Japan
Let me get straight to the point: these three races have painted a clear picture of the competitive balance and thus also the deficit and problems of Max Verstappen and Red Bull. You could say: fortunately, there are a few weeks coming up without races, so you can try to find solutions. Well, you really have to try that as a team. And I hope for Max and Red Bull that they succeed. I just think unfortunately they won’t.
Agreeing with Max
Look, it will never be down to Max, everyone knows that. You can count on him trying to get the maximum out of the car for the rest of this season. He always does that, and now too, even if he doesn’t like the regulations or the current cars. Because I still agree with Max on that; after three races, I am still not a fan of this new way of racing in F1.
NOW ONLINE: 40 pages Race Special GP Japan: our online magazine with current events, reactions, analysis, and interview!
But okay, as drivers and teams, you have to deal with it now. There will certainly be some changes in the coming period. But teams with a deficit – like Red Bull – will have to try to solve their own problems regardless. There is no lack of top speed, as you saw in Japan too. Max had good top speed there with the engine from Red Bull Powertrains and Ford, so the power is there.
But the car itself, the balance, and the ‘deployment’ of energy—saving and using it—that’s where the problems lie. And there are more teams with issues, and they all want to do something about it in the coming weeks. However, you then run into a new problem. Namely: how do you know if it works?
Read more VIDEO: Verstappen waves to Gasly during overtake: ‘Just try to smile a bit’
Simulator
Because, and this is important: you can come up with all sorts of things in the coming weeks, but you won’t be driving the car a single meter, so you can never test it on the track. It is therefore very difficult to determine if your ideas or solutions are actually good. However, because of this, we will know in a few weeks which team has really good simulators. That’s what you need. Whoever has good correlation with the sim can really make progress.
While we all hope for Red Bull, I personally also think mainly of another team that will come forward. And that is McLaren. Of course, it’s not going flawlessly yet this season, far from it. There have already been plenty of reliability problems for Piastri and Norris. But in Japan, you saw that McLaren can be right up there. The engine (from Mercedes) is good, and that car is really not bad either.
So it wouldn’t surprise me if McLaren turns out to be the team that has really made progress after this weeks-long break. And yes, who knows, maybe Red Bull also. But that will be quite a challenge.
NOW ONLINE: 40 pages Race Special GP Japan: our online magazine with current events, reactions, analysis, and interview!
Read more Red Bull not yet talking to Verstappen about F1 future: ‘First give him a fast car’
