Bold headline: Red Bull’s edge isn’t just luck—it’s a targeted system McLaren and Mercedes are race-testing to beat.
McLaren is intensifying its collaboration with engine partner Mercedes to pinpoint how to quickly erase Red Bull’s deployment advantage on the track.
Toto Wolff, Mercedes’ team boss, has labeled Red Bull as the current benchmark, citing strong performances seen during this week’s Bahrain test. He even claimed Red Bull’s power unit could be delivering about a one-second-per-lap boost on the straights, a claim supported by data analyses of long-run performance.
Lando Norris, McLaren’s world champion driver, agrees that Red Bull is ahead right now. He emphasized that having more energy available for straight-line speed is highly beneficial, saying, “With a deployment advantage, it’s a beautiful bit of lap time to have in your pocket.”
Pursuing improvements
The Bahrain test has spurred McLaren to escalate its work with Mercedes, aiming to understand why Red Bull performs better with its deployment and what changes could close the gap.
Neil Houldey, McLaren’s technical director of engineering, commended Red Bull’s achievement with its power unit and explained that McLaren and Mercedes are actively seeking gains. He noted, “Starting from scratch and reaching the position they’ve achieved is remarkable.” He added that Mercedes’ power-unit program (HPP) has produced the current power unit, and he’s confident they’ll achieve deployment improvements to stay competitive this year.
Houldey stated that their focus is on increasing deployment efficiency and exploring how to adjust deployment over a lap to bring them closer to Red Bull. He highlighted the potential to harvest and deploy energy more effectively and to boost battery power across each lap.
However, he cautioned that simply having the best power unit isn’t the only determining factor in performance. He observed that teams deploy energy at different times within a lap, and that Red Bull’s advantage appears to be one piece of a larger puzzle. He added that the current power unit offers advantages in other areas as well, meaning the dynamic isn’t one-directional.
Norris believes some gap-closing improvements can come from on-track adjustments by his team, but true progress hinges on Mercedes uncovering what Red Bull does differently to access more power.
Norris tempered expectations, saying there might be small improvements he can make, but they won’t alone account for Red Bull’s overall advantage. “They have a very good power unit, from what it looks like. They deploy, and have high efficiency. We need to understand how they achieve that,” he said. He also acknowledged avenues for McLaren and HPP to improve, and for Mercedes to contribute.
Diversion or truth?
Max Verstappen has framed the chatter about an engine advantage as potentially tactical, suggesting early winter testing often doesn’t reveal the season’s true contenders. He described the initial testing days as not predictive of the final outcome, especially with a new rule set. He called the talk a form of diversion and insisted his team would focus on themselves and do their best.
Still, Verstappen allowed that there remain opportunities for Red Bull to refine their performance as the season approaches. Asked about starting the season with a win, he acknowledged he’s pleased with how things began but stressed there is “massive room for improvement” given the complexity of the cars and rules.
Would you rather see teams chase raw horsepower or smarter energy management? How aggressive should manufacturers be in pursuing deployment gains, and where do you think the balance lies between engine power and on-track strategy? Share your thoughts in the comments.
