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Red Bull Racing says that it will review its British Grand Prix performance in order to find out why it regressed so far compared to its Austria showing.
The Red Bull team went into Silverstone off the back of a strong showing at the Red Bull Ring just a week earlier, where Daniel Ricciardo was just six seconds adrift of the leaders on the final step of the podium.
However, both Ricciardo and Max Verstappen struggled at Silverstone, with the latter inheriting fourth only after Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel picked up a puncture.
Ricciardo finished fifth after driving from 19th on the grid, having suffered a mechanical failure in qualifying on top of a grid penalty for a gearbox change.
“We felt that we were a bit off,” said RBR team principal Christian Horner.
“I am not sure we got the most out of the car.
“We struggled a little bit in the low-speed corners, so there is quite a bit to go and understand, analysis-wise, why that is.”
Horner suggested one factor that may have hindered Red Bull was that the amount of full throttle required at Silverstone with this year’s faster cars meant it was more of a power track than it had been in the past.
“Silverstone now, with this new generation of cars, is again 70 percent full throttle,” he said.
“And again, that is quite painful in comparison to our rivals.”
Red Bull is introducing an aerodynamic update for the Hungarian GP, which Ricciardo has described as “significant”, in its bid to grab another win.
Horner moved to try to play down the changes, though – suggesting the tweaks are part of a season-long plan by the team to constantly improve its car.
“It is all part of the evolution,” he said. “I wouldn’t call it significant.
“I would say it is again relatively subtle in terms of a constant process of trying to get performance on the car.”
