The 2024 Spanish Grand Prix was a weekend to forget for the Visa Cash App RB F1 Team.
Can they make a comeback in Austria?
After Daniel Ricciardo’s eighth-place finish at the Canadian Grand Prix added another four points to the team’s points haul in at Montreal, VCARB brought a slew of upgrades to Barcelona for last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix. But far from improved performance, the team left Barcelona with nothing to show for their efforts other than a mountain of data and questions to answer. Now the team is hoping that the hills of Styria will provide more fertile ground for progress and points gains.
“I love the Red Bull Ring and I love nature, so I enjoy the place itself and the surrounding countryside. I also love the food, especially schnitzel! It’s the home track of the Red Bull family, so hopefully we can perform well. It’s also a sprint weekend, so we only have one hour of free practice, but every session after that counts,” said Yuki Tsunoda during the team’s media preview. “I know that everyone at the factory has been working hard to understand why we struggled so much in Spain, and hopefully we can make up for that this weekend.”
After all, who doesn’t love a good schnitzel?
Teammate Daniel Ricciardo pointed out that this weekend marks a milestone in his F1 journey, and teased a themed helmet to coincide with the weekend.
“There are a lot of reasons to be excited about Austria. It’s my 250th Formula 1 Grand Prix, so that’s pretty amazing,” Ricciardo said. “I’ll be running a special helmet design this weekend, so it should be fun, and it’s Red Bull’s home race, the Red Bull Ring, so there’s always a lot of support. It’s a special race for the team and for the brand, so that’s good.”
“After Barcelona we want to turn things around. We don’t have much time as it’s a sprint weekend so we only have one practice run, so we have to give it our all and we’re ready!”
VCARB sporting director Alan Parmain noted that the team faces a rapid recovery as the Austrian Grand Prix is the middle race of a Formula 1 triple-header, which presents a unique challenge for the entire organisation and, being an F1 sprint race weekend, VCARB has to be “flawless” from the start.
“This week most of the team will be heading straight to Spielberg in Austria for the second of three races in a row. It’s a special race for the Red Bull family and we’re looking forward to racing in the beautiful Styrian countryside,” said Permane. “The circuit is demanding for both the car and the driver, with long straights, hard braking and super-fast corners. It’s a sprint weekend so we need to be perfectly prepared. Pirelli will be running their softest tyre. [tires] It is well within their reach and one of the challenges will be extracting the most from all three compounds over the course of one lap in Friday afternoon’s sprint qualifying.”
