Red Bull Racing will not compete at the same level as last year. Laurent Mekies delivered this disappointing message during the unveiling of the new livery for next season.
There have been doubts about the performance of the RB22 for some time. The new Red Bull car is equipped with a self-developed engine for the first time, but the question remains whether it will be strong enough to match those of Mercedes and Ferrari.
The qualities of the DM01 – the name of the new Red Bull engine, which is named after founder Dietrich Mateschitz – were kept rather secretive, but Mekies’ recent statements leave little to the imagination: a difficult year seems to be coming for Red Bull.
“No one underestimates the size of the mountain we have to climb”Mekies starts opposite Sky. “It’s the kind of challenge we all want to be involved in, and hopefully we’ll come out on top in the end.”
“I think it would be naive, to say the least, to think that we’ve built everything from scratch – with great support from Ford – and that at the first race we’ll be at the same level as people who have been doing this for years. It’s not going to work like that, we’ll be chasing them.”
Verstappen is also cautious. The always realistic Dutchman gives a down-to-earth answer when asked whether the RB22 will be able to fight for victories and titles.
“Time will tell, right? I mean, we don’t know. The one thing I do know is that everyone is doing everything they can. We’re trying to make progress, we’re really trying to maximize everything, but we know it’s not going to be easy.”
