Hungarian Grand Prix 2024: Why Red Bull’s dominance is ending… And McLaren believes it will remain on top at Spa

TO no one will escape this for more than two months Red Bull Loses Aerodynamic Edge which he has enjoyed since the start of 2022 and that his car is no longer the fastest on the grid, to the detriment of McLaren. Max Verstappen He can no longer maintain his hegemony alone with the Milton Keynes car, and Checo can no longer be second to China. Miami was the turning point, and although a genius like the Dutchman even increased his advantage, up to 84 points at Silverstone he can’t continue to do that at the moment either.

He McLaren’s one-two with Piastri and Norris at the Hungaroring was undeniable. and this is due to several factors. Firstly, a car that is not the fastest on one lap, slow curve,

wherein DRS It’s not that important and double strategic error in which they were always behind their opponents’ attacks. They not only threw one at them, but also two cuts During the race, Hamilton and Leclerc steal their wallets in a fight for the podium.

I don’t remember such a mistake. Hannah Schmitz engineer-strategist that production is always focused on the wall of the Austrian team and despite the fact that in other cases It was all about Verstappen’s return to the track. This time it was not enough for the Ferrari 16 and Mercedes 44, whose driver was waiting for him… The McLarens were out of reach this time.

Regardless of discussion about who is to blame for the collision, one for jumping from Amsterdam or another to turn the machine to give it precise contact at the right moment it seems that Red Bull has reached the end of its journey with this type of ekranoplans, at least for now.

The main reason for the decline seen in RB20 is that after evolution in Japan, which was also not very good and victories in Japan and Shanghai were perceived as something self-evident in the technical department Given the distance they had against their opponents, it would have been enough for them to win the World Championship. especially that pilotsas there is little interest from the constructors even within the teams. The money (which is distributed by the FIA ​​at the end of the year) comes from the points scored by the drivers, not from the championship itself, and Max was able to sustain the huge haul with some help from Checo.

And so they decided stop development of the RB20 to allocate that portion of the budget to the 2025 car, We are preparing for another year of success. Is It’s absurd to win 22 races in one year that don’t accumulate for the next one, they should think about good logic. Last year there were 21 wins in 22 events, and this year there were two more wins on the calendar, before 24 hours.

Which They didn’t expect it to be a McLaren thrill. With evo which they presented in MiamiTrue, Norris found himself at a dead end with his first Formula 1 victory, but it was a turning point for a championship that had no idea such a strong rival was coming so soon.

If pilots from Mclaren and the team itself would have some success, we would talk about about 25 points ahead at the moment only for max, but there are still 76, who are even good at managing second and third if the Dutchman wants to do it and It doesn’t catch fire like a Molotov cocktail. when he spots his most hated rivals, like Hamilton.

“Find profit in the second half of the year”

Horner told yesterday after the race about what was happening with his car: “With stable rules you enter a corner where It’s becoming increasingly difficult to win. It’s normal. I’ve been in this business for 20 years and that’s what happens. It doesn’t mean you have to accept it, it just means you will have to work harder to make a profit gradual, take part in good races and be on top of your game. We believe that we should will improve in the second half of the year”, He said Director of Red Bull, that maybe they should implement a contingency plan and restore the development in RB20 that they hadn’t thought of.

You might think that With the return this weekend to a very fast and aerodynamically efficient circuit like Spa, the panorama will change.

between Red Bull and McLaren, but not everything is so clear-cut. The MCL38 was best at Silverstone and In Hungary, without including a single new detail, it was the same.

McLaren is optimistic

As MARCA learned from inside the Papaya team They believe that they can maintain pulse on all types of circuits. and, with the exception of Spa or Monza, The remaining missing tracks may suit your car better than Red Bull. Of course, the effective evolution of their rivals could change everything again by the end of the season, because they spent many months with the RB20 in standby mode and that could change after the summer. Let’s see how they cope in Milton Keynes without Adrian Newey. already in the Formula 1 team, which is also very interesting.