Red Bull arrived in Imola with a major upgrade package but, at the end of the first day, both Verstappen and Marko did not hide a touch of disappointment. Some of the updates worked, but the gap to McLaren remains significant, and the Friday balance issues seen elsewhere persist: they hope for a breakthrough.
“Our updates are working, but McLaren is still four tenths ahead.” It’s a direct summary that gets straight to the point, given by Helmut Marko at the end of the second free practice session in Imola, on a day when Red Bull dealt with the usual problems that often affect their Fridays, hoping to find those missing tenths overnight.
The problem, however, lies further upstream. In Imola, the Milton Keynes team showed up with a substantial package of technical updates, modifying, for example, the inlet area of the RB21’s sidepods, where a particularly unique solution appeared with a flow diverter placed right under the radiator inlets.
Important updates that, a few weeks ago, had led Marko himself to say — or rather, to hope — that Red Bull could close in on McLaren, starting to significantly reduce the gap, if not eliminate it altogether. Hopes that Max Verstappen had already dampened on Thursday, emphasizing that this package alone would not be enough to close such a large gap.
Although it’s not unusual to see the Anglo-Austrian team playing catch-up on Fridays, what emerges is a hint of disappointment, as they had at least expected to start from a stronger base — not just in terms of the gap from the top, which is still over four tenths, but also in terms of setup.
In the first session, Max Verstappen reported difficulties in managing the rear of the car due to a clear lack of grip, while in the second session he mainly complained about bottoming, with the floor continuously scraping against the asphalt in certain parts of the track, such as at Acque Minerali.
A tricky issue, because the Imola track surface is not among the smoothest on the calendar, and constantly feeling the car hitting the asphalt can unsettle the drivers, especially during corner entry and high-speed sections, or in areas where trust in the car is critical. On a circuit like Imola, it’s always essential to find a compromise, seeking a balance between stiffness for medium-high-speed corners and a softer setup to attack the curbs.
“Disappointing. McLaren still seems to be four tenths ahead. On this track, that’s quite a lot. We made some progress with our updates, but basically we didn’t get much closer. I mean, we could improve a bit more with some setup details, but the fact remains: McLaren is absolutely superior,” Marko told Sky after FP2.
“We’ve had a fundamental problem since last year. But the positive aspect of the first free practice session was that there was no understeer, and that was one of the main issues. However, other problems emerged. Again, if we can fix them further in the third free practice session, things will go better, but the gap to McLaren is still too big.”
And that’s precisely the crux of the matter. Although Imola is not exactly the track that best highlights the RB21’s strengths, constantly having to play catch-up doesn’t allow focus on the finer details needed to take the final step — a step McLaren has already taken.
Interestingly, most of the time lost comes from medium-high-speed corner entry, such as Turns 3, 5, and Piratella, while it remains more limited in other parts of the track, with the exception of Rivazza 1. These are the same corners Charles Leclerc also mentioned. The issue, as Marko pointed out, is that the gap doesn’t originate from one specific area, which makes it much harder to find the solution.
“At the moment we are too far behind. We’ve made some more changes. If we can get them working better tomorrow, maybe. But in the race, as we’ve seen once again, McLaren is on another level.”
“We’ve made changes, but they haven’t given us that decisive step forward that would put us on McLaren’s level,” Marko added.
On a track like Imola, where qualifying can make a difference, the hope is that overnight work will allow them to take a step forward and maybe hope for a breakthrough. But Verstappen remains cautious.
“We tried many things, some worked better than others, but yes, overall we’re not fast enough at the moment. We definitely need to work a bit more to get better balance in the corners and go quicker,” said the four-time world champion, also explaining that he was overtaken by McLaren during the long runs — although it’s worth noting that Verstappen was one of the first to start the long-run simulations.
“In the long runs, I was overtaken by McLaren, and that already says everything, doesn’t it? They’re pulling away. But even compared to the other teams around us, I think today has been a bit of a tough day.”
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