Daniel Ricciardo and team boss Peter Bayer explain why Racing Bulls failed to make a mark at the Formula 1 race weekend in Barcelona
“I really think we put in a good race. But we finished 15th. And we can’t be satisfied with that.” This is how Daniel Ricciardo sums up the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix from Racing Bulls’ perspective. The Formula 1 team from Faenza in Italy failed to score any points at the tenth race weekend of the year
“The whole weekend was actually jinxed,” said team boss Peter Bayer in an interview with ORF. His team “tried everything”, but there were already problems with the new rear wing in Friday practice. The drag reduction system (DRS) was not working properly, so it was initially deactivated. Later, however, Racing Bulls even dispensed with the wing update completely.
On top of that, Yuki Tsunoda’s car suffered gearbox damage. “And then at some point you get caught up in the maelstrom,” says Bayer. Or as Ricciardo puts it: “In terms of competitiveness, we weren’t really there. It was a very, very strange weekend for us.”
One that Racing Bull had expected a lot from. The team had traveled to Barcelona with numerous updates for the VCARB 01 and corresponding hopes, but was soon disappointed: P17 and P18 in qualifying, P15 and P19 in the race
Were the updates a failure?
Now Ricciardo says: “I don’t think we could have achieved anything better with our package.” So does that mean the updates from Racing Bulls didn’t work or even made the car worse?
Bayer, as Managing Director of the racing team, disagrees: “The data is clear. They show that the upgrade works.”
“However, the race engineers explained it to me like this: “It could be that these upgrades are fooling you. So you think you’ve found a ‘sweet spot’ for the car, but it’s not actually where the car tells you it is. That’s where we got a little carried away. “
The computer says something different than the racetrack
The error is possibly to be found in the correlation between the computer model and the real race track. A decisive factor here is the temperatures, which are constantly changing on the track compared to the simulation. “And then the models are no longer correct and it no longer works out in purely mathematical terms,” says Bayer.
The effect is exacerbated by the extreme behavior of the vehicles during set-up. It has to be spot on. “But the model makes you believe that you are at the front, even though you are actually next to it. That’s how it felt this weekend. “
Racing Bulls announces internal review
And that is now the subject of internal analysis, says Bayer. His team will use the next few days to determine a course of action for the Austrian Grand Prix this weekend. That suits Ricciardo just fine, because he also says: “We have to look at a lot of things.”
In his opinion, some things went right in Barcelona. “The balance wasn’t bad,” says Ricciardo. “I think we just lacked downforce. We’re probably not getting everything out of the new package yet.” That’s why he “definitely had a few limitations” in the race
Second attempt or back to square one?
But does that speak for or against the latest technical update at Racing Bulls? The team at least wants to leave open the option of going back to an earlier stage of development if necessary – with both cars or perhaps just one. “If everything is on the table and we’re still of that opinion, then that will probably be a question,” says Ricciardo.
According to Bayer, different scenarios are currently being discussed and time is pressing: “Austria is a sprint weekend. That means we actually have to know what we want to do in the first training session. The pressure is correspondingly high now. “
Why Ricciardo is having fun troubleshooting
Because the small gaps in the field have a much greater impact in modern Formula 1 than in the past. “You simply can’t afford to have a bad day,” says Ricciardo. It is therefore necessary to “dig a little deeper” on the technical side.
However, he is happy to take on this task himself. Reason: “Maybe I just enjoy this process more as I get older. I’m really looking forward to putting our heads together and finding out exactly what happened last weekend.”
It is also important for Racing Bulls to get back on track emotionally. Because in Barcelona it was all about “learning and persevering”, says Bayer. “I’ve already said to the guys: In Austria we’ll have a Wiener Schnitzel and then we’ll be fine. “
