Formula One: Smell of fear coming out of the Red Bull Camp, right before the start of the Belgian Grand Prix
The summer break has not let the Formula One team rest. Even though they are not on the track, however, their minds are still all the time busy thinking of the season and all its ups and downs. Despite the shutdown of the factories the planning and strategies are all the time being discussed and worked upon, as the Formula One caravan is about to enter its last and most crucial stage of the season. The smaller teams are all thinking of ways to secure some more points and end the season in a better manner, so that they enter the next season with better spirits. Whereas, the bigger teams are struggling to tailor ways and means to have their positions secured and prevent the title from slipping off their hands.
At such a critical time, the Red Bull Racing is restless and eager like all other teams. The team boss of the Austrian team, Christian Horner fears that the RB6, which is considered as the fastest car of the season, would not be able to perform as good as it had in the previous races. The next races of the season are scheduled to take place at Spa Francorchamps and Monza, which both offer a low down force, which might not be able to suit their car very well. On the other hand, this may be very beneficial for their toughest competitor of the season, the McLaren.
The Red Bull has had an upper hand in terms of speed right from the start of the season. At one after the other race, they have proved to move with unmatched pace and have kept improving their car every now and then. However, most of the tracks that had been explored so far offer a medium or high down force, which has helped the RB6 to get the most out of its blown diffuser and also the flexible front wing have worked brilliantly for it.
Now as the cars flee for their next rendezvous at the Belgian and later at the Italian circuits that have the long straights, the Red Bull chassis is not expected to do as well as the McLaren’s can. The additional horsepower of the Mercedes’ engine along with their own version of the F-duct is supposed to help them brilliantly on all the rest of the tracks for the year.
"It is in the twisty second sector that we will have to make up time," Horner said, while talking to the German fortnight magazine of sports, Auto Motor und Sport.
"Down the hill to Eau Rouge, and on the long straight and then back to the finish, we will lose out."
The team driver Mark Webber, who now stands at the top of the Drivers’ Championship, expressed fears similar to his boss's proclaiming Monza to be the biggest challenge for the team. Webber, who had bagged victory at the last race of the season at Hungary just before heading for the summer break has a total of one hundred and sixty one points and stands one place ahead of the McLaren driver, Lewis Hamilton who has one hundred and fifty seven points so far.
Webber exhaled his fears of the race by saying, "We're a little bit worried about how the long straights might go at some of the other venues and maybe Monza."
Currently Red Bull stands at the top of the Constructors’ Championship, while the McLaren follow them. So far, the difference between the two teams is only of six points, as Red Bull has been able to bag three hundred and twelve points, whereas their followers have three hundred and four points in the last twelve races.
Seven races of the season are yet to go, let’s see if the team would be successful in preventing their top slot or slip it away to McLaren or even Ferrari!
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