F1 2024 - Red Bull's New Problems

So what's going on at Red Bull, and how could  their season turn around so much from a dominating   team at the start, to a struggeling team. Red Bull started the new F1 era with the   right concept - large downwashing sidepods in  2022. Also, because of the long experience of   their technical mastermind Adrian Newey,  especially in ground effect race cars,   they had less problems with bouncing, because (in  contrast to all other teams) he saw it coming,   because he remembered it from the past, and  he already had ideas of how to reduce it,   while others were caught by surprise. So while others had to change their concept   during the season, Red Bull could develop their  car further, and had an advantage. They were   dominant in 22 and 23 and started the 24 season  with a more extreme concept, which should have   opened new potential for further developments. But things happened in the background. Red Bull   boss Mateschitz passed away in 2022,  which started an internal powerplay.   British team boss Horner, who is employed to run  the daily business of the F1 team and always had   to accept decisions of the Austrians Mateschitz  and his consultant Marko, teamed up with the   Thai side, who owns 51% of the business. The tentions divided the team. And Adrian Newey,   who always felt like he built the team  together with Horner, left the team.   It was announced on the 1st of May  and the statements from Red Bull now,   were the same as the statements from  Williams and McLaren when Newey left them:   Newey is not building the car himself, We have many capable engineers,   he was just in the background for the last years Him leaving won't effect the team.   But, we have to remember that Newey is not  just one of the first engineers who studied   the aerodynamics of ground effect cars at  university, he is also a successful race   engineer and hobby race driver himself. So he doesn't just come up with the general   idea for a new car concept, he also knows how  to set his car design up for particular tracks,   and how to adapt the strategy. Newey was always at the track,   at the pit wall, in the garage, and  sometimes even underneath the car.   He had access to everything, was in all  technical meetings and understood what   the drivers were saying. With the announcement of him   leaving the team, he was excluded from  all technical meetings at the Miami GP.   So he was at the track like always, but not  allowed in any of the internal meetings and hence   only gave interviews. He said, if that's the new  reality, he won't come to the races anymore.   So of course, Newey wasn't doing the  daily work but he was the mastermind   in the background overseeing things and  pointing people in the right direction.   And so it's interesting to see that now, that he  is not involved in the car's development anymore,   the team is struggeling. Of course that didn't  happen immediately, but we can clearly see,   that since race 8 in Monaco, Red  Bull's progress got a lot flatter.   Their updates don't bring  the promised results anymore,   they are making mistakes at the track, and  they have problems setting up the car.   The pinnacle was the Monza race now, where we  already pointed out in my video on Thursday,   that's it's strange, that Red Bull comes with a  much higher downforce level wing. They then cut   large pieces off the flap to reduce drag, but  at the track they ended up being significantly   slower on the straights than their rivals. Verstappen stated they had engine issues as well,   but that could also just be a  cover for their setup mistake.   In previous years, they didn't design a  Monza specific wing, because their car   was so dominant, but this year is different. And although they had a higher downforce level,   they were still struggeling for grip. In the meantime, also other engineers and   top people like Jonathan Weathley and  Rob Marshall were leaving the team.   Verstappen now said, that they were doing  many mistakes and they were slow everywhere.   He wants big changes for the next race and  thinks he will lose both championships.   So it looks like the internal troubles at Red  Bull have bigger effects, and they come faster   than most people thought. So what do you think?   Is this just a short hick-up and can  Red Bull still turn this season around?   Or is this the beginning of Red  Bull becoming a mid-field team?   Do you think they can keep  Verstappen for next year?   Let me know in the comments  below and see you at the next   video!