The recent updates from RB did not produce the expected results in Barcelona. Daniel Ricciardo revealed that RB is not discarding the disappointing updates, but rather planning to mix different parts for the upcoming Austrian Grand Prix in Formula 1. RB had high hopes of catching up to Aston Martin in Barcelona by introducing a significant upgrade package for the VCARB 01. Unfortunately, both drivers were eliminated in Q1, and Ricciardo finished in 15th place, the highest of the RB drivers. Despite the disappointment, Ricciardo emphasized that RB is not giving up on the new parts and will test them during practice sessions. Ricciardo and his teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, will try different adjustment configurations in an attempt to unlock the potential of the revised package. Ricciardo acknowledged that there are still some uncertainties surrounding the updates, but they do not consider them a failure yet. They will continue to explore different options and seek improvements.
The CEO of RB, Peter Bayer, suggested that it was a possibility to revert a car to its previous updated state, but Ricciardo clarified that this will not be the case for this particular event.
The driver who has already won eight races in the past revealed that one of the drivers will be using a combination of different components, including updates that were not brought to Spain by RB.
When asked if a car will be running with the pre-Barcelona car to compare it to the updated car, Ricciardo stated: “It’s a mix.
“There are definitely some old parts on one car and others, but it’s not a direct comparison.
“Because there are even some completely new parts that I believe we both will have. It’s a mix.
“But this is their best estimate based on the data from Barcelona, where they believe it could be. Let’s split the cars and find out.”
Tsunoda is confident that RB now understands the cause of their problems in Spain and hopes they won’t encounter the same issues at the Red Bull Ring this weekend.
“So as a team, we will definitely be testing between the cars, even knowing it will be a Sprint qualifying race,” added the Japanese driver.
“We wanted to find the answers as quickly as possible by comparing the cars. It’s not about old versus new or anything like that. We will still be introducing some new parts this week.
“It’s a combination of all of them, but by the end of this week, we should have the answer to what was causing the problems and the direction we should take in the future.”
