During the Monaco Grand Prix qualifying, Max Verstappen, the Red Bull driver, narrowly avoids colliding with the barrier.
Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko admitted that “the simulator and reality do not correlate” on the RB20, regarding the team’s issues over kerb riding.
He said the problem reared its head in the team’s off-weekend in Singapore last season too, with the newest Red Bull reacting like a “kangaroo” in Monaco this time around.
Red Bull admit correlation issue with ‘kangaroo’ RB20 in Monaco
Due to the bumpy and kerb-filled streets of Monaco, Max Verstappen compared his car’s suspension to a nimble go-kart. He acknowledged that he would be unable to match Ferrari’s speed during the weekend due to this issue.
On Sunday, Charles Leclerc secured a victory for the Scuderia with an impressive qualifying lap. Meanwhile, Verstappen ended up in sixth place, and unfortunately, his teammate Sergio Perez retired due to a collision with Kevin Magnussen on the first lap. Marko acknowledged that the RB20 exhibited a consistent state of uneasiness.
Despite being a much higher-speed circuit overall, he said that due to the correlation issue they found, the car may not be comfortable at the next round in Canada either.
“The Ferrari literally floated over the kerbs in the swimming pool, so it was out of reach,” Marko wrote in a column for Speedweek.
Although we encountered difficulties maneuvering over the kerbs, the kangaroo played to our advantage. It was remarkably suited for qualifying, leading us to believe that Max would have secured a front-row position on the grid.
However, it’s inevitable that even a skilled driver like Max can make a mistake when handling such an anxious car.
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Additionally, he made an effort to make the most of his time in the initial sector, as it was the sole section where we outperformed the Ferraris. Moreover, he exerted every possible effort to reduce time loss in the remaining sectors.
The issue originates from the simulator, as it indicated that the car was exceeding the kerbs.
In simple terms, this implies that the simulator and reality are not in sync. Additionally, it’s worth noting that Singapore was the initial race track where this issue arose, not Monaco.
Firstly, we will address the fact that the simulator generated an output that did not align with reality.
“We hold an optimistic outlook as we strive to uncover the reasons behind the simulator’s production of incongruent data with reality. However, we acknowledge that Montreal might present challenges for us during the upcoming weekend.”
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