Red Bull engineer explains Max Verstappen ‘fear’ Lewis Hamilton caused

Lewis Hamilton opens up on difficult season for Mercedes

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Red Bull feared Max Verstappen’s dramatic 2021 title battle with Lewis Hamilton would damage their chances of 2022 glory. Verstappen ultimately cruised to his second world title this year as Red Bull adapted to F1’s technical changes far better than their rivals.

But Red Bull’s engineers had concerns that their quest for the 2021 Drivers’ Championship would dent their performance in the following season as they pushed Mercedes and Hamilton all the way to the final lap in Abu Dhabi. 

Christian Horner’s team worked incessantly on the 2021 Red Bull car in the hope of finding any edge on Mercedes heading into the crucial final races of the season. But there was a worry that their hard work that paid off with Verstappen’s maiden title in 2021 would end up compromising hopes of being competitive in 2022.

“We were quite worried, because obviously we came for a final race shootout, so it was a massive push with (continuing developing) the 2021 car, which didn’t help,” Red Bull’s chief engineer Paul Monaghan told Racingnews365.

“Resource that would have been on the 2022 car remained on the 2021 car longer than we had originally planned. Given regulation changes, finite resources, then we were worried we had damaged the 2022 car.”

He added: “It’s an indication of the diligent work and the skilled work that went on within all the disciplines of the factory. So, research, design, manufacture, testing, realisation, all of it. We were at least as efficient as anybody else, and we were very privileged to have a very good car from the outset.”

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Red Bull lost valuable time in developing their RB18 car as they were forced to respond to seven-time champion Hamilton’s brilliance as the Brit took Verstappen right down to the wire for the drivers’ title. 

But Red Bull even exceeded their own expectations with the RB18 as performance levels grew throughout the season in a dream year that culminated in 15 race wins for the indomitable Verstappen. 

“It was developed in a very short period of time, which is one of the reasons why it’s quite heavy,” Red Bull engineer Pierre Wache revealed. “It’s not like we started late, but the resources we put on this car code were compromised based on what happened (last season). I think the main compromise was more of a resource of people and wind tunnel time.”

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