The competition for world champion Max Verstappen has increased within the Red Bull team in the 2022 Formula 1 season. His team-mate Sergio Pérez can put more and more pressure on the Dutchman after the Mexican was not a serious opponent for the Dutchman in his first Red Bull season in 2021.
Especially in qualifying, Verstappen has trouble winning the team-internal duel. Overall, it’s five to three for the World Champion in the regular qualifying sessions, with both Red Bull drivers each claiming a pole position.
Verstappen complains that the Red Bull is still understeering too much, which is why he is not yet able to get the most out of the car. According to team boss Christian Horner, this becomes particularly clear in qualifying: “I think we’re slowly getting to a point where Max feels more comfortable. But of course his problems are less noticeable in the race than in qualifying.”
Verstappen is groping in the dark in qualifying
When asked how much potential there is in Verstappen once he feels comfortable, Horner keeps a low profile: “I think that’s part of the evolution of these cars. And of course the development is quite sporadic because we’re subject to the budget ceiling. But the more kilometers you cover, the more set-ups you inevitably find.”
Verstappen himself is still groping in the dark: “We know that we are not as fast as Ferrari with the performance of the car on Saturday, for whatever reason. Maybe that will help us for Sunday, but I still want a better performance in qualifying , also for the feeling in the car.”
“But on Sunday it always feels a bit better in general. So of course there is still a lot to do to improve the car. But I think that’s the same for everyone. You have to remember that the car is still quite new and at the moment it looks like we still have the biggest room for improvement on Saturday,” says the world champion.
Is Red Bull really faster than Ferrari?
The fact that Red Bull has won all of the past five races, including three one-twos, does not hide the fact that Ferrari and especially Charles Leclerc may have better pace. The Monegasque was always on the front row of the grid in the 2022 season and started from pole six times.
“I think in terms of pace, Ferrari has always been very fast on Saturdays. They dominated there,” said Horner. However, due to the two engine failures in the past three races, it is less clear how fast Leclerc would have been on the race Sundays and whether he could have beaten the Red Bulls on his own.
In Baku, however, Red Bull was pretty sure that they would have won the race even without the Monegasque falling out, even though he was 13 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen after adjusting for a pit stop shortly before his defect.
“We had a good race car and I think we would have strategically beat Charles with the route we chose,” says the Red Bull team boss. “But we’ll never know. The most important thing was that we were able to capitalize on their bad luck. We got the points and things are looking good in the championship at the moment. But we’ve seen how quickly that can change again. “