Pierre Wache has said something ‘very worrying’ about Red Bull’s development

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It has been a difficult run of races for Red Bull after it appeared they no longer have the fastest car in Formula 1.

Max Verstappen finished 22.8 seconds behind Lando Norris in what was one of the biggest win margins for a non-Red Bull driver since Lewis Hamilton in 2021.

It was an alarming victory for engineers at Red Bull, after they were left scratching their heads over how the Dutchman had no answer for Norris’ blistering pace.

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko believes they got an aspect of Verstappen’s car setup wrong, which led to their poor tyre degradation during the race.

Discussing how they are expected to move forward in the future, journalist Thomas Maher said he heard something technical director Pierre Wache said that will be a cause for concern on the Green Flag F1 podcast.

What Pierre Wache said that was ‘alarming’ for Red Bull

Wache has been open about Red Bull’s shortcomings in the wind tunnel recently, identifying three key reasons why their car upgrades have not been working.

Red Bull switched car concept this year in a bid to stay ahead of rivals, but that could be having an impact on them now according to Maher.

“What I found concerning for Red Bull is the fact that they had this concept that was utterly dominant last year, but they felt that there was limited development to bring it much further, which is why they swapped over to this other concept because they felt there was a higher performance ceiling,” said Maher.

“But now, just halfway through the first season, Pierre Wache has said that maybe there is a limit to the development concept. That doesn’t fill anyone with a whole lot of confidence at Red Bull.”

Red Bull has lowest wind tunnel time out of F1 teams

All the teams must conform to F1’s aerodynamic testing restrictions that were brought in during the 2021 season, which effectively creates a handicap for the most successful teams to keep the field competitive.

It is based on championship order and as Red Bull is currently the leaders they are hit with the biggest reduction in testing time for both the wind tunnel and simulations.

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This means there is little opportunity for them to test parts before they make their way to the car on track.

McLaren also has less time now they are second, but they used most of their time at the start of the season wisely, in their new wind tunnel facility that ‘really impressed’ new arrival Rob Marshall.