Red Bull still struggling with key RB20 component despite six ‘major’ updates this season

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The last few races have been a tricky spell for Red Bull following its ‘business as usual’ start to the season on track.

Max Verstappen dominated the opening five races but since losing out to Lando Norris at the Miami Grand Prix, Red Bull has not looked like the most comfortable package.

Imola was the first sign that their advantage looked to be slashed when Norris challenged Verstappen for the race win on pace, while Monaco exposed the fundamental problem with their car that has been there since the RB18.

The recent triple-header was always going to be an acid test for the team to see how far behind everyone else is, and after just one race win it looks like Red Bull now faces a credible threat to its title defence going into the second half of the season.

Part of the reason why Red Bull has slipped is due to its upgrades, especially the ones that have not brought the performance improvements they desired.

According to journalist Michael Schmidt on the Formel Schmidt podcast, the latest major upgrade was to the floor underbody at Silverstone and it failed to produce the numbers expected by the Milton Keynes outfit.

Red Bull’s sixth major upgrade fails

The new floor is the sixth major car upgrade that was brought by Red Bull, an area of the car they cannot seem to exploit as much for extra performance with their current aero platform.

Red Bull has always been one of the more stable teams on the grid with its performance curve, but the last few races have seen them dip considerably.

“Red Bull had an upgrade in Silverstone again and something was done to the underbody. It should bring about half a tenth, but I’m not so sure that half a tenth has come,” said Schmidt.

“They’ve been modifying the underbody for ages now, it was the fourth major upgrade, although the size of the parts wasn’t that big. It was already the sixth underbody version this year and somehow nothing is moving forward at Red Bull.”

McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes to bring more performance

It is clear that all of Red Bull’s rivals intend to bring more performance to the track prior to the F1 summer break, which means the team must get on top it its issues fast.

Verstappen has been comfortably leading races by huge margins over the last 18 months, but now it might be the case that he needs to settle for second if he wants to prevent his advantage in the championship slipping.

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Verstappen held a 56-point advantage heading into the triple header over Charles Leclerc, but now that has increased to 84 points with the help of his and Norris’ DNF in Austria.

Red Bull faces a threat in the Constructors’ Championship due to Sergio Perez’s poor results, which is why they are evaluating whether to keep him in the seat for the remainder of the season if he does not meet certain clauses in his contract.