The challenge of making a car that both drivers can get the best out of is faced by every Formula 1 team. Red Bull’s situation is extreme, with Max Verstappen able to live with a car balance that most can’t andSergio Perez getting more and more off the pace as the season progresses.
Red Bull has gone through this situation before. Red Bull produced a car that had great potential but the exhaust blowing didn’t work as it was supposed to in the first part of the season The team-mates looked like they had the upper hand during that time.
Mark was good in a balanced car but couldn’t get that extra bit out of it with exhaust blowing. He was not familiar with keeping the throttle open and coming back on it. The rear of the car was going to be stable with this. When it was all working, he was able to return to the power four or five car lengths.
If the car balance was towards oversteer, Button didn’t have any confidence. If you apply a little more steering lock, the car will turn more and not just understeer.
The drivers that really stand out can live with a little bit of oversteer and, in general, it will make the car that little bit faster. It might be a good idea to use American terminology and think of it as being a little bit loose, so the rearaxle isn’t pushing the frontaxle.
I tried to make a consistent and usable car that wasn’t too peaky aerodynamically to allow drivers to be confident. You can only drive to the troughs if the car is unpredictable. The peak for Verstappen is clearly a trough for Perez, according to Red Bull.
Red Bull and Perez are trying to find a set-up that works for him but admit it can come at a cost. It is fine if he is losing two tenths of a second to Verstappen. Verstappen is six tenths faster in a basic car than he is in a Formula 1 car. Red Bull decided to focus on Verstappen’s development in order to accumulate points as the number two.
We hear a lot about how hard it is to get down to the minimum weight of the car. The weight penalty is three tenths of a second. I don’t think the difference between Max’s car andSergio’s is as big as it seems. If you have lighter parts, who will you give them to? There is a chance that Perez is running a heavier car.
It isn’t just as simple as the total weight. If a few lighter parts allow you to get the weight distribution as far forward as the regulations allow, then you will be able to run more front down force. If the airflow structure of the car is sound, that will give you more down force. You can get a tenth from here and a tenth from there. Max is the driver who uses it the best.
Some people think that one driver is being favored over the other. It makes no sense to focus on making the car quicker for the slower driver because Verstappen is the quicker driver. If you want to avoid that situation, you need to be the best driver in the team.
It is easier to win the drivers’ championship if you have one of the best drivers in the world in your car. Two drivers can snatch points off each other if the performance is too close. In 1986 the Williams drivers lost the drivers’ championship to a slower McLaren driven by Alain Prost, who went on to win the title.
To win the title, two cars have to score points. The ideal line-up is probably a number one driver with a couple of tenths advantage over their team-mate and a team-mate who accepts their status and knows they probably have the second-best drive in the pit lane. It’s unfortunate that egos can get in the way of simple things.
If we were all the same, life wouldn’t be interesting. Some people can live with an understeery car while others can live with an oversteery car. If you can use it, it’s quicker than if you can’t.
One of the things I like to say about Michael is that he drove the car he had. Within a couple of laps, he would be at ease with the balance of the car and if that meant a little earlier turn in because of understeer or a less aggressive turn in, that’s what he did. Verstappen might not be able to live with the understeer like Schumacher did.
A car with a little oversteer means that you don’t want the frontaxle to generate all of the rotation. The workload on the front tyres can be reduced if 10% of the required rotation can be accomplished by the rear. As the corner opens up, the car will be straighter and the throttle will be open earlier.
Perez was known as the ‘tyre whisperer’ when he was driving for Force India. He was able to look after the tyres, if not better than, most, and that was due to the fact that the rear tires were more prone to overheating. With his driving style, that understeery balance was a good fit. It wasn’t always possible to be at the front from the beginning. He got his best results as the race went on.
I wouldn’t change anything because of the old saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”
Few Max Verstappens are out there. As a team, if you know how to cater for his needs, you have a driver that will use every tenth of a second he can find, and more besides. The best drivers do that.
Anyone who has been team-mates with a great will know that Perez is in a difficult position. The very best drivers are able to live with slower but more difficult cars. By making the car a little bit better suited to Perez it makes him faster but it doesn’t sacrifice the performance potential of Verstappen on the other side of the garage.
That is just the laws of physics.