Red Bull Cautious of Ferrari Threat at China GP

Facing tough conditions, Red Bull prepares for a challenging race against Ferrari in Shanghai.

Red Bull Racing has legitimate reasons to fear Ferrari at the upcoming F1 Grand Prix in China next weekend.

On this circuit, which teams have not visited since 2019, graining is a traditional phenomenon, which caused a bit of stumbling for Red Bull and its RB20 in Australia.

Ferrari fared much better, and some believe Carlos Sainz could have won the race even without Max Verstappen’s retirement, as Sergio Perez struggled during the race.

Christian Horner, the director of Red Bull Racing, is therefore wary, especially since the Sprint weekend will leave little time for teams to find the right settings.

“I’m already happy that we’re going back to China. It’s a good circuit for F1.”

“The first turn lingers, and with the high-speed corners, it has always been very punishing for the front tires, especially on the left.”

“There’s also a sprint race, the first sprint race of the year – so it’s another challenge. There will be a lot of points to score, so it will be interesting to see how it goes.”

“Graining will be a factor. And I think Ferrari at this Albert Park circuit was definitely competitive in this area, and we had seen from Friday that their race pace was competitive.”

“Should we admit defeat? Of course not, but we expect the Ferraris to probably be our closest competitors there [in China].”

For Dr. Helmut Marko, it’s the same fear.

“I hope we won’t have surprises like in Melbourne. There, the asphalt was so aggressive and we completely misjudged the tire wear, which is precisely one of our strong points.”

“We could see with Checo the tire wear during the race. So it might still be a surprise in China, but we have been warned by what happened in Melbourne and I think now we know better how to react.”

“But it’s a completely new situation for most of us that will await us in Shanghai.”