Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko claims the team won’t “back down” on development in their fight for the Formula 1 championship.
This year marks the Anglo-Austrian outfit’s first real chance to challenge for the title since 2013, although Lewis Hamilton has opened up a 14-point lead over Max Verstappen after four races.
But with more windtunnel time at their disposal versus Mercedes, the Dutchman does see the development war as a key area Red Bull must be better in if they want to dethrone the German manufacturer.
“It’s a team effort. So of course I try to be as good as I can and the team tries to be as good as they can be, that’s at the end of the day how you win championships,” he told Sky Sports.
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“Throughout the season I think it’s going to depend on who is going to develop the fastest and bring more things to the car.
“We’ll have to stay on top of that and then I’m confident as a team we can do a good job.”
However, at the same time, some teams are already almost completely focused on the all-new cars for next year, so shouldn’t Red Bull be looking to do likewise?
“We can’t do that to Max now that he has a car for the first time with which he can become world champion,” said Marko.
“We need this euphoria, and also the passion and enthusiasm. There are still 19 races to go, and we have to give everything.
“The problem will come about before the summer break, when, theoretically, capacities will then be put on to the new development of the 2022 car.
“The only thing is: if we both continue to be so close together, I believe that neither Mercedes nor us – and certainly not us – will back down anywhere in development.”
This could be a situation very reminiscent of 2008, when Ferrari and McLaren went head-to-head for the entire season but were then significantly on the back foot with the new regulations that were introduced in 2009.
Ironically, Red Bull and Mercedes (then Brawn GP) were the two big winners from that at the time. It’s not impossible the situation could be reversed in 2022.