2021 freeze should help Red Bull start strong

Red Bull principal Christian Horner believes the frozen 2021 regulations will help his team pick up from where they left off in Abu Dhabi.

In a 2020 season that has been dominated by Mercedes with a seventh Drivers’ and Constructors’ title double secured, Red Bull upset the odds at the most unlikely of places.

That being the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix where Max Verstappen ended the Silver Arrows’ run of victories that started back in 2014.

While Verstappen’s dominant display should give hope for a tight battle between both teams in 2021, it’s worth nothing that Red Bull have become specialists in the turbo-hybrid era at starting on the back foot and recovering too late in the season.

However, with the regulations frozen for 2021, meaning a token system is in place to give teams only two opportunities to develop their chassis carried over from 2020, Horner believes Red Bull will be in a good position to pick up where they left off next season.

“I certainly hope so, because it’s not a start from scratch again,” Horner told Autosport.com.

“Obviously a large percentage of the car does carry over, so where we start in Barcelona [testing] in a couple of months’ time, is going to be pretty much where we finish here with the relevant upgrades on it.

“It’s the first time in F1’s history [that this has happened], and it is why we called the new car, 16B, as opposed to 17, because there’s so much of it that is carry over.

“Probably about 60% of the car is carry over.”

Speaking about Verstappen’s win in Abu Dhabi, Horner said: “I think Max has been absolutely clinical this weekend.

“He did a great job to deliver the pole lap and then after getting a good start, he was just in control of the race from start to finish. He did an unbelievable job.”

Get your hands on the official Red Bull 2020 collection via the Formula 1 store

One major change that could take place at Red Bull before pre-season testing is in their driver line-up.

Sergio Perez by his own admission isn’t expecting a call from Red Bull, but after the Abu Dhabi GP Sky F1 reporter Ted Kravitz said that confirmation of Perez to Red Bull for 2021 is expected perhaps as soon as this week.

“We are expecting an announcement maybe in the next coming week that Sergio Perez has joined the team,” said Kravitz on his Ted’s Notebook programme.

“And Alex Albon will stay on as a test and reserve driver.

“It does look like Christian Horner and Helmut Marko have managed to convince Dietrich Mateschitz, who wanted to keep the faith with Alex Albon, to sign Perez.

“It seems like there is nothing to lose [signing Perez]. They may as well see how it goes [with him] and if he can’t do the job that they want him to do then they’ve Alex in reserve. That seems to be the elegant solution Red Bull has gone with.”

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