Red Bull still favored at the table, but needs to act to avoid headaches

It's not all flowers for Red Bull in the 2022 Formula One season. Max Verstappen leads the championship with some ease, 38 points ahead of Charles Leclerc, true. The Taurinos themselves command the Constructors' World Championship, with a comfortable lead over Ferrari, also true. But the team led by Christian Horner has plenty of reasons to worry and, with serious problems to solve, it needs to act soon if it does not want to be 'out of the house' this year - as the song of a reality show winner says.

Before landing in Austria for its home race, the energy team was witnessing the favorable winds of F1 2022. Ferrari won at Silverstone, yes, but the taste for Red Bull was sweet: the Italian squad's mix-up with Charles Leclerc made an underdog Max Verstappen, in trouble in England, not so much of a loss. Moreover, the advantages in the Drivers' and Constructors' World Championships were still more than satisfactory.

Red Bull's quiet scenario became even more evident as Friday and Saturday in Spielberg progressed. On the first day of F1 action there, Verstappen confirmed his favoritism and secured pole position. About 24 hours later, the reigning world champion again overthrew the Ferrari duo and also won the sprint race without any kind of headache. Add all this to the great record of the taurine team and the Dutchman in Austria and the expectation was totally for victory.

But worthy of Hollywood plot twist, the Austrian GP subverted such expectations, because. Charles Leclerc overtook Verstappen once, twice, three times. Contrary to what the outlook for the race showed, Ferrari set a strong pace and surprised Red Bull. It had everything to come out with a double, even - were it not for Carlos Sainz's engine blowing, evidencing once again the Italian team's extensive reliability problems. But in this text, we will not talk about the issues of the Maranello team.

"They (Ferrari) had a very strong car (at the Austrian GP). They could have finished well first and second. Until lap 12, the weekend had gone very well (for us), in terms of pole-position, sprint wins. But unfortunately tire degradation hit us hard," Red Bull boss Christian Horner said after the end of the race in Spielberg.

Horner touched on a key point here: tire wear. This is one of the factors that helps explain the surprising Taurine defeat at home. Leclerc, Verstappen, and Carlos Sainz started from medium, but unexpected compound degradation meant that the Dutchman could not fight off the Monegasque, who took the lead on lap 12. In the following lap, such wear also forced Red Bull to send the reigning world champion to the pits.

Look: while Verstappen managed to carry the yellow stripe tires for 13 laps, Leclerc used the same compounds for 26 turns, twice as many. Sainz, 27. The Red Bull driver saw his team put on hard tires, but the sharp wear remained. The Taurinos were unable to manage such degradation, while Ferrari showed absolute control in the matter.

But what, exactly, changed? Overnight, Red Bull lost what it had built up over the weekend. The slightly lower temperatures on Sunday? The rain that fell in Austria after the sprint and before the main race, washing out the circuit's grip? Or the weight of the car with a full tank?

Ah, the weight of the RB18... we come to another key factor here. What could be analyzed as an isolated fact, a detour, a pebble in the road, gained more dramatic contours due to the extra kilograms of the taurine car. After updates, the Red Bull car gained weight - it is estimated that it is about 10kg above the minimum limit, which is 798kg. Ferrari strictly adheres to such a target, for example.

"We're still a bit heavy," Verstappen admitted. "It's a limitation we have, we still need to lose weight with the car, which we are working on," the reigning world champion acknowledged.

To lose weight - which is necessary - Red Bull needs to recalculate the RB18 development route. And on that rediscovery route, to be cleared, the disgruntled Sergio Pérez wants to see significant changes. That's right, taurine team... when it rains, it pours. Or better yet, when it rains, it pours.

"I don't feel as comfortable in the car as I did at the beginning of the year, so to speak. So I think that first I have to understand what is happening," said Pérez, in an interview to the Motorsport-Total website. I will translate this for you, who is reading this text: 'Czech' purposely wanted to raise doubts about the development of the RB18, hinting that the updates of the car are going more to Verstappen's side.

The reigning world champion hit back, of course. RB18 suited to the Dutchman's driving style? Not at all. "We always try to make the car faster, and whatever they update in the car, you have to adapt to that," Verstappen pointed out. "And that's exactly what I've been doing. "Of course I opine on what I would like in my car in general, but the updates in the car are not designed specifically for me. It's just more pace," he finished.

It is an exaggeration to talk about an internal crisis. Even if it was justifiable for Red Bull to choose to make the RB18 more like Verstappen's face - after all, the Dutchman is a significantly better driver than Pérez, with a much greater potential - it is not possible to say that the waters in which the Energetic team is navigating are already crooked. But there is an atmosphere of disharmony, a fact.

Red Bull's defeat in Austria was a small blow to Ferrari. A sign that 'look, I'm not dead yet, okay? Vacillate so you can see. It has to generate concern for the Taurinos, since not only in tire control, but also in straight line speed, the Italian escuderia seems to have pulled up well. The F1 2022 tables offer comfort, yes, but the way it lost in Spielberg needs to make Christian Horner's team turn on the yellow light.