juan

This has been a bit telling, watching people mis-analyze what they’re seeing here, from both fandoms. 😅 What should be the takeaway here is a tip of the cap to Red Bull for what they’ve done on the aero-mechanical side. The update was impressive, it may now be the most efficient car on track. Their PU is solid, certainly not on par with HPP, but a small step ahead of Ferrari still. But what we can see now is they’ve retained predictable downforce for the drivers to use, albeit less overall than Ferrari, while shedding a significant amount of drag and excellent mechanical grip for torque application at the rear. What you see here in traction zones and straight line is as much corner prep and chassis as it is engine. People conflate this with only being deployment. Lewis having more downforce allows a bit more aggressive braking and fighting back in the corners, but it’s not to be compared to Verstappen’s traction application and efficiency without sacrificing corners fully. The lap time is about making the proper compromises, and Red Bull have found an excellent compromise again. A key thing to note in this discussion… notice the significant lack of Verstappen vs Hamilton content in this? That’s because it’s about their cars. Both laps are well within the limits of driving capability. Red Bull may do well in race trim tomorrow as well, as long as they can avoid a sliding spiral of thermal issues. That’s true for everyone, though. Ferrari’s extra downforce may help them on the tires as well. McLaren and Mercedes are wildcards to me.