Red Bull technical director Pierre Wache has dismissed suggestions that the current RB20 might represent the apex of what's possible under the current F1 rules and regulations.
The team had been expected to continue its 2023 run of total domination this season, but instead had found its rivals closing the gap and providing real competition to Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.
Last year, Red Bull claimed all but one Grand Prix victories. But halfway through this current season, there have already been wins for Carlos Sainz, Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton.
Verstappen is still well ahead in the drivers championship and on course to pick up his fourth consecutive title. But there's no question that the margins are tighter and there is less room for mishaps than previous campaigns.
Pundits have suggested that while rivals are continuing to make progress, there is little more performance remaining to be extracted from the RB20, Adrian Newey's last car for Red Bull before he leaves ahead of rule changes in 2026.
“It’s very simple: in previous weeks we have not always been dominant," Wache told Dutch newspaper e Telegraaf this week. "But there's no point in pressing the panic button right away.
"Panicking is not the right attitude. We are working with 300 engineers. If you're changing your mind every five minutes, that's the wrong way.
“It's true that the others have moved closer and we have to come up with updates, which can ensure that we get an edge again," he acknowledged.
“To be quite honest, at the beginning of this season the other teams were not as close as we expected," he admitted.
“But it seems that the development of certainly McLaren, and in certain areas also that of Mercedes, has been successful," he continued. “McLaren has taken a giant step forward since Miami at the beginning of May.
“The regulations have been the same for a few years now and there are a lot of restrictions, so we put in a lot of work for only small margins.
“We have definitely taken risks, and yes, that means you can also screw up completely," he said. “But Formula 1 is such a competitive environment, and standing still is going backwards.
“I definitely think we can continue to develop this car and find quite a bit of performance in the near future.
“You can think up and develop all kinds of things, which sometimes takes months, but once on the track it's about whether such a component brings us what we're expecting, and if the driver feels it and he can use that.
“I look at it in two ways. Operationally - in the short term - asking how we can make the car perform in the best possible way. And then in the factory looking at the longer term.
“It is very important that we see that it gives us lap time, because that affects our plans for the future," he explained.
Wache said that it was easy to come up with ideas for a faster car - "more grip, less drag, more power!" - but that wasn't always the right approach and that the team had to listen to the driver for guidance.
"Anyone can think of that, but Max is very specific in his input," Wache said. “Max is very clear and I like that. We can think of all sorts of things, but it’s the driver who has to deal with it.
“His race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase translates that back to us so we can try to incorporate that into a physical part - what exactly he needs during a particular moment in a corner, and in which areas he feels less comfortable."
Red Bull brought a revised floor design for the RB20 to last week's race at Silverstone, but inclement weather and damage to the underfloor of the car when Verstappen ran off in qualifying made it difficult to assess.
The team will be hoping to make progress during the next double-header in Hungary and Belgium before the mandatory summer break sends teams off on holiday in August, during which time no development work can be undertaken.
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