Pierre Waché: the RB21 did not react as expected

Doubts at Red Bull? After the three days of testing in Bahrain, the Austrian team remained rather discreet and did not truly make an impression, unlike in previous years. The statistics speak for themselves. The Milton Keynes team completed the fewest laps during these tests, with only 304 laps completed. This figure is explained by several technical problems encountered by the drivers (cooler malfunction in the engine due to a leak for Lawson on the second day, notably). Combined with the numerous red flags raised due to unusual incidents (broken window, power failure on the circuit, or even the presence of a bus near the track), Red Bull’s tests were not ideal.

Yet, everything had started well for the Austrian team. On the first day, Lawson had set the fastest time in the morning and Verstappen the third of the day. The two teammates completed 132 laps that day and were confident in the car. These good feelings were also shared by Pierre Waché, the technical director of Red Bull. “Today was a good day of work with both drivers,” said the Frenchman to GpBlog. “With Liam in the morning, we tried to make some setup changes to see how the car reacted, and in the afternoon, when we switched to Max, we continued the program with a different setup change to see how we can understand the car for the next two days of testing.”

Thursday and Friday: contrasting days

Unfortunately, the following two days did not yield the same results. On Thursday, Lawson’s trials were disrupted by a technical issue. On Friday, red flags also limited the track time of the four-time world champion, as the team was hoping to use the opportunity to test new parts, particularly a new model of front wing.

After three days of testing, satisfaction is not really present in the Austrian camp. Despite mixed days, Pierre Waché is convinced that the team is moving in the right direction this season. “It wasn’t as smooth a test as we had hoped, but it’s better to detect certain problems here than later, and that’s why we’re here: to understand the car,” he stated.

The weather was not in our favor and not very representative of this track, but we tried to explore the potential of the car and understand how it reacts to different settings, and I think we have generally succeeded. I am not as satisfied as I could be, because the car did not always react as we wanted, but it is heading in the right direction.

An unstable single-seater requiring developments

Despite everything, the team is aware that it still needs to work better to perform. If the RB21 closely resembles the RB20 from the end of the season, some issues have not yet been fixed. In the onboard videos released by F1, you can see a car that sometimes lacks stability, with several wheel lock-ups for Max Verstappen. Meanwhile, Lawson also experienced the instability of the Red Bull with a spin on the first day.

If the French engineer is certain that Red Bull is still among the top four teams, he finds it difficult to place his team within this hierarchy. « I think it’s very difficult to establish a hierarchy for Melbourne on the grid right now: you see that four teams seem quite fast, including us, but we haven’t looked too much at the other teams, we’ve tried to focus on our program. »

There are therefore two weeks left for Red Bull to find solutions. For the past three years, the Austrian team has always started the year with a victory. Nevertheless, this season could break with that trend. The competition is now stronger than ever, and the Australian Grand Prix on March 16th promises to be full of twists and turns.