Red Bull discovered an unexpected benefit from latest F1 rule change that will make Max Verstappen’s life much ‘easier’

Qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix could have easily been the turning point Red Bull Racing needed to revive their championship ambitions this season.

Max Verstappen went into the Spanish Grand Prix within 25 points of drivers’ championship leader Oscar Piastri.

It meant the Red Bull star could have drawn level with the Australian had he won the race and Piastri failed to finish in the top 10.

Red Bull had high hopes for the latest F1 technical directive as they initially believed it would have a profound impact on McLaren’s car.

Those hopes started to dwindle as the rule change approached, and by the time Piastri and Lando Norris locked out the front row of the grid, Red Bull would have known they weren’t about to rocket to the front of the pack.

Ferrari were surprisingly positive about the front wing changes and Charles Leclerc finishing on the podium justifies that feeling to an extent, albeit he needed Verstappen’s strategy to backfire to achieve that feat.

However, Journalist Edd Straw believes that Red Bull did gain something from the latest technical directive, even if it wasn’t the game-changing update they needed.

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Red Bull’s cars are now ‘easier’ to set up after F1 rule change at the Spanish Grand Prix

Straw was asked on The Race F1 Podcast how happy team principal Christian Horner and Red Bull are with the impact of the technical directive introduced at the Circuit de Catalunya and said: “We know that the Red Bull wing is flexing a little bit less than it was, maybe not the full 5mm when it’s tested that’s changed.

“But it hasn’t catapulted them into contention, or at least to level terms with McLaren which is what they would have hoped.

“But I think as we talked about on our pre-weekend podcast with Matt Majendie, who’s embedded with Red Bull, they weren’t really expecting it as time got closer to it kicking in to completely transform things.

“What’s interesting though is that that slight reduction in flexibility of the front wing apparently has made the car a little bit easier to set up and work with.

“So that to me confirms that Red Bull just hasn’t got the same command.

“They can achieve the flexibility, but understanding how to make that work in the perfect way with the rest of the car is clearly not a great strength and McLaren is stronger on that.

“So I think they will be happy, but not overjoyed because it’s not transformed the whole thing.”

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Why Max Verstappen will be delighted with Red Bull’s latest car update

Verstappen isn’t going to look back at the Spanish Grand Prix with much fondness.

His late 10-second penalty saw him pick up just one point and allowed Piastri to nearly double his advantage in the drivers’ championship.

However, one of the recurring themes of this season is Red Bull and particularly Verstappen’s improvement between practice and qualifying.

Piastri hailed McLaren’s step forward during the Spanish Grand Prix weekend, but typically, it’s the Dutchman who finds an extra turn of pace as the event plays out.

If Red Bull’s car is now easier to set up then Verstappen can concentrate on much smaller details during each practice session, rather than needing to try and get the RB21 into its very narrow performance window.

It appears as though even at its peak, Red Bull’s car is still off the pace of McLaren’s machine, but it should mean Verstappen is always the best of the rest on the grid.