Red Bull Racing explains that the decision to run the F1 cars of Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen on different floors was partly due to cost reasons.
Red Bull Racing has equipped Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen’s RB18s with different floors since last month’s Belgian Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen is running a floor that worked very well early in the season, but Sergio Perez was switched to a new version that both drivers tried in Austria and France. However, the new floor does not appear to have delivered the expected advances.
At last weekend’s Zandvoort, Sergio Perez revealed that the new floor didn’t seem to be the best version and that he was struggling to get equal skill, but that he would stay on the same floor for a few more races. ing.
Red Bull Racing F1 team principal Christian Horner has revealed that the floor’s decision was forced for financial reasons. The team does not want to build another old-spec floor at this stage of the season, subject to cost cap restrictions.
Most of the big F1 teams are trying to stay under the cost cap, and if the cost performance is not good, they have to be cautious about introducing new parts.
But Christian Horner has downplayed suggestions that the floor is the reason Sergio Perez has fallen so far behind Max Verstappen’s pace in recent grands prix.
“It’s just a slight difference we’re talking about,” said Christian Horner.
“It’s mainly due to the availability of spare parts. I think the difference is probably 0.1s or less than 0.1s.”
“But Czech had a tricky race (at Zandvoort) and unfortunately he was passed at the restart. Maybe in hindsight his preference for tires was medium.
“If I had the right decision, the soft tire at the end would probably have been the better one to attack, but he scored a decent amount of points.”
Sergio Perez was much more comfortable with the RB18 in the early part of the season, but as development progressed he noticed a big shift in favor of team-mate Max Verstappen.
“I think I was more comfortable in the beginning,” explained Sergio Perez last weekend.
“Each weekend of FP1, I was already happy with the balance and could feel that things were going naturally.”
“I feel like it’s getting more and more difficult as the season goes on. Every weekend I really have to dig deeper into the analysis. Well, I’m not as familiar with the car as I used to be.”
