The Red Bull is performing well… but lacks luck

When Fabrice Lom – the Renault engine manager at Red Bull Racing – is interviewed, he appears rather optimistic, but in the current context of the championship, it seems that luck does not want to smile on the Austrian team.

Indeed, in Japan two weeks ago, under very humid conditions, Webber had the means to aim for victory, but after being hit, he brought back only a few points from an excellent GP. In China last week, it was in qualifying that the drivers surprised, both in the top 8, but the rainy race still did not allow them to bring enough points to surpass Williams in the championship.

The feelings are mixed. On one hand, the car has made real progress in performance in recent weeks. We noted this step forward during our last private testing session in Jerez, and it has been confirmed in every run in dry configuration within the framework of the Grand Prix. Unfortunately, the harvest of points has been meager, even though there were many opportunities to do well. We are still behind Williams in the championship, while we should be ahead today.

It all started with the incident involving Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel in Japan…

« Exactly. Mark had an exceptional car at the time. He told us after the race that he could easily catch up to Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren in the rain and he would have attempted to overtake. Knowing Hamilton’s position in the championship, he wouldn’t have blocked him. So victory was almost certain. With Williams out of the points at Fuji, we could have turned the tide on that occasion. Frustrating. »

The situation for the Red Bull is therefore frustrating. The performances are there, but 4th place in the constructors’ championship is still not secured: « As for our battle with Williams, we have not given up. We need to score 4 more points in Brazil and that is not mission impossible. For next year, we remain cautious. Firstly, there will be many changes: the end of traction control, standardized electronic boxes. The transfer of performance from one season to the next will not be automatic. Additionally, teams like BMW or Renault are focusing all efforts on 2008, while Red Bull continues to develop for 2007. These different strategies may skew the current hierarchy. However, the team seems to have a clear development pathway, the car is improving with each race, so we remain confident. »

In Brazil, for the last race of the season, the engines used by Mark Webber and David Coulthard will be new. They will therefore be used only once, and the team could take advantage of this little boost to supercharge the R27. Unfortunately, Fabrice Lom remains powerless: « The specifications of these engines are fixed and their maximum speed is limited: it would be difficult, under these conditions, to increase their performance. Furthermore, our drivers already use our V8s to their maximum potential during race weekends. So we can’t even ask them to « push them » in Sao Paulo: they’re already doing it! »

With only 4 points, the two teams will lead a battle of nerves until the fateful Grand Prix in Brazil.