According to Red Bull’s estimates, the package introduced in Baku brought an overall gain of around three and a half tenths per lap. Compared, for example, with McLaren, or Mercedes itself — both of which introduced a package comparable to Red Bull’s — it appears to have been optimized immediately. In fact, the most interesting aspect was the speed with which Red Bull managed to optimize the package on the car.
The result of the Azerbaijan race partly concealed this step forward. Verstappen had finished only eighth in qualifying after reporting an issue that cost him around half a second on the straights compared to the sister car, but in the race he climbed back up to second place in a photo finish with Russell. More than the outright result, it was the pace that suggested something had genuinely changed.
Sepang confirms Red Bull has made the leap
Baku was a particular circuit, with extremely long straights and a layout that placed much greater emphasis on energy efficiency. Sepang could be — and has been — the ultimate test of the progress made by the Milton Keynes-based team, which is now being watched very closely by its competitors.
The fast corners and extended cornering sections across a much wider range of speeds allowed the engineers to assess the behaviour of the new floor outside the Baku context. And already after Friday, Pierre Waché admitted that the results had been even better than initially expected.
The main objective of the Malaysian weekend was precisely to put the Baku package to the test in different types of corners. The response was positive. The Azerbaijan package appears to have improved not only the amount of available downforce, but also the quality with which it is generated and maintained under different operating conditions.
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