Max Verstappen: “Our wind tunnel is old, but until this year it had always done its job”. Red Bull is betting everything on the updates debuting in Texas.

Azerbaijan marked the first step in the right direction
Max Verstappen still has a 52-point lead over Lando Norris, a margin that cannot be considered safe ahead of the United States Grand Prix in Austin, with six races remaining, three of which include a Sprint Race on Saturday. Red Bull has had clear issues with data correlation between the wind tunnel, simulation tools, and the actual results on the track. Since Zandvoort, the Milton Keynes team has been conducting experiments and tests on the track to gather the necessary data to gamble everything on the update debuting in Texas.

In Singapore, Max Verstappen managed to limit the damage by securing the front row and finishing second in the GP behind Lando Norris. McLaren displayed strength at the Marina Bay street circuit, similar to what was seen in Zandvoort, and team principal Christian Horner stated that Red Bull is aware that during this break, there was a gap of more than 20 seconds to close.

The fact that Red Bull’s wind tunnel is one of the oldest still in operation has been frequently pointed to as a key factor in this crisis, but Max Verstappen emphasized that it’s not fair to place the blame solely on this facility. “Our wind tunnel is old, that’s true, but until this year it had always done its job,” the three-time world champion told *Autosport*. Indeed, up until this year’s Chinese GP, the fact that Red Bull’s wind tunnel was outdated hadn’t stopped the Dutchman from consistently racking up victories for over two seasons. Then, something went wrong, and most likely, the issues related to the Horner case and its aftermath contributed to Red Bull losing its way. “With these cars, it’s easy to head in the wrong direction in terms of development, it happened to us just like it did to other teams,” Max Verstappen added. “But I believe the lowest point for us is behind us. The new floor we introduced in Baku was a step forward, and I’m confident the next steps will be in the right direction as well.” – the three-time Formula 1 world champion concluded.