Red Bull confirms risky upgrade strategy for Verstappen at Belgian GP

Chief Engineer of Red Bull Racing, Paul Monaghan, has acknowledged that the team is taking a calculated risk with its update for the Belgian Grand Prix — but there is a lot of confidence within the team in the new update.

As anticipated, Red Bull rolled out a series of minor upgrades ahead of the weekend at Spa, including a revised front wing and updated sidepods. Monaghan believes the new front wing, in particular, represents a meaningful step forward.

"The front wing is part of an ongoing development process. Internal research does not stop. When you are making progress in those areas — and we have great people in that field — we produce a new front wing. We had the time and the money for it, and the step forward is big enough."

Why is Red Bull taking a risk with the update?

"We also expect some performance gains from the sidepod. We had a gap of three weeks between Silverstone and Belgium, during which you're not doing nothing. So it's not about patching things up—we’re doing this because we believe the car will be faster."

The timing of the update is particularly interesting, given that the Belgian Grand Prix is run alongside the sprint format. With only one practice session and the added risk of rain, the margin for error is slim. When asked whether that presents a risk, Monaghan admitted: "Yes." Yet it was a risk Red Bull was willing to take.

"If it’s wet in FP1, then we might have to scrap it, but that applies to everyone. We’re doing this because we have confidence we can integrate the update during a race weekend. If we have that confidence, then we go ahead with it."