– The five-week Formula 1 break, triggered by the race cancellations in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, is also disrupting the teams’ development plans: Racing Bulls had already planned the first update for the VCARB03 for the desert race in Manama, which will now be delayed.
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“We had a pretty decent upgrade planned for Bahrain, which we will now see in Miami,” reveals team principal Alan Permane to selected media, including Motorsport-Total.com. “Another upgrade was planned for Montreal, so we will have a quick double strike there.”
“There is no way to bring both at the same time. We cannot bring the Montreal upgrade forward, so it is a somewhat unusual situation where we bring a new, quite extensive upgrade – a new component – and then almost immediately replace it again. That’s just how the calendar has developed.”
Formula 1 break is an advantage for Racing Bulls
Permane does not go into detail about the planned improvements, but the unusual situation clearly illustrates the consequences the current break until the Miami Grand Prix actually has for some teams, especially with regard to the development race.
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“The actual upgrade cycle is pretty well planned,” adds team principal Permane with regard to the five-week break, which was not known before the season started. “As I said, we had an upgrade planned for Bahrain, and what that ultimately allowed us to do is to provide larger quantities of it for Miami.”
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“For Bahrain, we might have had only one or two, probably two to three sets of it. For Miami, we will have three to four sets. That has allowed us to be better prepared there, but it has not influenced the upgrade cycle itself, as these are planned several weeks in advance anyway.”
Permane confident: Can keep up in the midfield
Racing Bulls is in seventh place in the constructors’ championship after three races, but only four points behind the fourth-placed Haas team. Alpine and Red Bull are tied on points in fifth place, with it expected that the Bulls will break away from the midfield.
Instead, Audi is likely to join the fight with Racing Bulls, Haas, and Alpine. “I am very confident that we can keep up – if not even be better than the other midfield teams,” said Permane, who is satisfied with the first three races.
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“I would say there will be small steps at almost every race, and we have already planned two or three bigger upgrades. You can hardly look further ahead than that, but we have a plan until the summer break. Therefore, I am very confident that we can stay in this group.”
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