Helmut Marko has admitted Red Bull have brought the wrong rear-wing to the 2024 Las Vegas GP in a mistake that could potentially ruin their weekend as the defending champions find themselves incredibly slow in a straight line.
Max Verstappen could only go 17th fastest in Friday’s Free Practice 2 session whilst Sergio Perez couldn’t fare any better, finding himself in 19th, as the team completed the session a staggering two seconds off the pace.
GPS data indicates they are seven kilometres per hour slower than Mercedes and McLaren, according to Autosport, whilst other sources indicate it could be as many as 10kph to the front runners.
And whilst it’s speculative to a degree, considering different engine modes, energy deployments and tyre programs, it’s worrying for the team as Marko admitted they have exhausted their options.
“We don’t have another rear wing,” Marko said, as per Autosport. “A smaller rear wing, as we see it on our competitors. It would be more helpful, for sure.”
Marko added: “Tomorrow is a different day. You maybe saw it a lot of times. People will be fastest on Friday or Thursday, but it doesn’t mean that they are fast in the race. We will make a reasonable step.”
Whilst the rear-wing is inherently too draggy for the Las Vegas Strip Circuit, there are other issues related to chassis structure that are also adding to the problem for Christian Horner’s side.
Red Bull, who have already removed a gurney flap to boost their odds, have also tried to change their beam wing by slimming it down and have also tried to adapt the front-wing to compensate for their struggles at the rear.
But fundamentally, Autosport suspects the issue is connected to their engine cover, which is a high-downforce design and was introduced at the 2024 Hungarian GP in July when Verstappen finished fifth.
It was part of a dual concept that was supposed to be easily adaptable for high-downforce locations such as the Hungaroring or the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps but could be replaced with low-downforce at locations such as Monza and Azerbaijan.
However, it is yet to make an appearance in Nevada despite the track possessing a nearly-two kilometre straight and just a handful of genuine braking zones around its 17 corners, in what could be a mistake by Red Bull that could ruin Verstappen’s 2024 Las Vegas GP weekend.
