Red Bull won’t ‘throw away’ World Championship

Henry Valantine
Dr Helmut Marko

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko says the team will not “throw away” this year’s World Championship by focusing on their 2022 car too early.

The teams are all taking different approaches to how they will develop throughout the 2021 season. Haas, for example, have said they will not be updating their car to fully focus on the new technical regulations in 2022.

Red Bull and Mercedes have started a season-long fight for both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship in 2021, and Dr Marko says his team will not change course in a way that will be of detriment to their chances in both title battles.

“We will not throw away the World Championship by focusing too early on next year,” he told F1-Insider.com.

“And I assume the attitude is the same at Mercedes because Lewis is chasing his eighth title. So they’re not going to say at Mercedes either: we’ll stop development and everything will go to 2022.”

With the tightness of the midfield battle, McLaren and Ferrari have been taking decisions to continue developing their cars for this season – for now.

Ferrari sporting director Laurent Mekies said: “In principle, we have already completed the change. If I had to give a figure, you could say 90 to 95 per cent.”

Daniel Ricciardo Sergio Perez Spain 2021 PA
Daniel Ricciardo Sergio Perez Spain 2021 PA

Check out all the latest Max Verstappen merchandise via the official Formula 1 store

McLaren technical director James Key said their MCL35M has a floor that is “ripe for development” this year, with the Woking-based outfit hoping to earn P3 in the Constructors’ Championship for the second season running.

“We’ve kept the spec we brought, so we have updated the car with the new parts, which is great news,” Key said to The Race after confirming McLaren had brought updates to their front wing and floor to the Spanish Grand Prix.

“An excellent effort from all the guys in aero and everyone at the factory to design it and push it through production, and the production process to get it here on time and give both drivers the sets they needed.

“We will be racing those new parts. And then we have some more parts coming. We haven’t finished the 35M yet. There’s a few updates still to come, there’s some still in a conceptual phase at the moment as well.”

Follow us on Twitter @Planet_F1, like our Facebook page and join us on Instagram!