Red Bull to roll-out new RB20 development plan with Perez prediction issued

Sergio Perez could benefit from Red Bull’s new development plan

Taking a wrong turn with the RB20’s upgrades, Red Bull will run a mix of old and new parts when Formula 1 returns from Monza onwards as the team seeks to retain the lead in both championships.

In a game of diminishing returns, as Christian Horner has put it in the past, Red Bull have less scope to improve than their rivals as they’ve been the team to beat the past two seasons.

Will Sergio Perez benefit from Red Bull’s new development plan?

However, in their quest to continue taking steps forward, even those measured by a mere tenth of a second, the team made a misstep with their extensive Hungarian Grand Prix upgrade.

So much so, Max Verstappen told the team to “wake up” as it wasn’t “enough” to keep them at the front of the field especially as it had messed with the balance of his RB20.

That the upgrade came in the midst of his first four-race streak without a race win since the 2020 championship only added to the Dutchman’s frustration.

Red Bull, as PlanetF1.com understands, are now set to not so much roll back on the upgrades but instead tackle a development path that includes mixing and matching parts, old and new.

At a time when Red Bull are genuinely fighting to hold onto the leads in both championships, Verstappen has seen his advantage over Lando Norris cut to 78 points while Sergio Perez has dropped to seventh in the standings.

Of the team-mates, the Mexican driver has struggled the most with Red Bull’s upgraded RB20 as he recorded a run of nine races off the podium, putting his Red Bull seat in jeopardy.

The team, though, opted during the summer break to continue with the Mexican driver with Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko believing Perez, who was P2 in three of the opening four races of the championship, will benefit the most from the revised development path.

“When the car’s reactions are more predictable again, Perez will also find his speed again,” he told Auto Motor und Sport.

However, Perez and Verstappen will have to wait until Monza for the impact of that to be felt as Formula 1 has only just woken from its summer break slumber.

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Marko’s comment comes on the back of Red Bull team boss Horner revealing the team’s “priority” is to help Perez recover his lost form.

Speaking to the media, including PlanetF1.com, at Spa, the team boss said: “Checo is a great team player, and he’s a massive team player, and that’s why he was selected.

“That’s why we took him at the end of 2020 to put alongside Max and he’s won six, seven races for us [five, ed’s note], second in the World Championship last year, goodness knows how many podiums.

“It’s been the most successful combination we’ve ever had as a driver pairing.

“What’s frustrating for everybody is Checo struggling because nobody wants to see him struggle. Everybody wants to see him succeed.

“The team has been and is right behind him. Everybody wants to see him succeed because it hurts seeing him in the situation that he is.”

He added: “The priority is to support Checo and to understand what he what he needs. We all want him to turn it around, we all want to see him deliver.”

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