Red Bull United States GP upgrade under scrutiny as McLaren prediction cast

Red Bull may bring an upgrade to the United States Grand Prix that makes the RB20 more competitive, but Christijan Albers doesn’t believe they’ll catch the McLaren given financial constraints.

Although this year’s championship looked to be settled when Max Verstappen won seven of the first 10 races, the Dutchman hasn’t won any of the last eight.

Will Red Bull’s next upgrade be enough to match McLaren?

Challenged by McLaren who have not put an update on the MCL38 that didn’t improve it, Red Bull joined a long list of teams making a misstep with their own upgrades.

Like Ferrari, Mercedes, Aston Martin and others, that meant they had to roll back on those which cost them vital development time as they resolved the issue.

But while team boss Christian Horner believes they have “found the development” path with their most recent floor upgrade, it’s still McLaren who made the biggest gains in the F1 2024 development war.

Not only has the Woking team had more CFD and wind tunnel time than Red Bull, they’ve also had more leeway in the budget as they haven’t had to cover the cost of big crashes such as those Sergio Perez has had.

It has Albers declaring even a step forward for Red Bull with their expected United States Grand Prix upgrades won’t match those made by McLaren.

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“Just bring an upgrade to gain a second in the long runs, or even half a second?” Albers told De Telegraaf . “You just notice that McLaren has it all together.

“They have less wind tunnel time at Red Bull, and less budget, because Perez has had a few knocks here and there, and that all costs money. It’s not easy.

“I don’t believe that they will be more competitive than McLaren with upgrades, but I do believe that they will become more competitive again, because you will then end up on circuits with medium-fast and fast corners.

“There, the Red Bull is really a lot stronger than Ferrari and Mercedes.

“If they catch up, that will mainly have to do with the character of the circuit.”

Is Max Verstappen facing another engine penalty?

Verstappen heads into the final six races of the season with a 52-point advantage over Lando Norris with 180 points in play as there are also three Sprint races.

However, Albers reckons the championship leader is still facing another grid penalty for needing a sixth power unit. That would be a five-place drop.

“That could be a hit,” said the former F1 driver turned pundit. “Then I would get it in Brazil, one hundred percent.

“You’re not going to do that in Austin. I would get it in Brazil, that’s better with that long straight, and that’s better with the DRS. They have that in Austin too, but that’s a close call.”

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