Formula 1 News: Imola upgrade is Red Bull’s last chance – Tost

(GMM)Red Bull consultant Franz Tost warns that the world championship will effectively be “over” if the team’s Imola upgrade is not a big step forward.

Red Bull sourced thermal images that show cold spots on the MCL39 rear brake drums.

Actually, amid rumors departing Alpine boss Oliver Oakes’ next move could be to Red Bull, Christian Horner denied the significance of the Imola upgrade that has regularly been spoken about by Dr Helmut Marko.

“There is no big update for Imola,” Horner said in Miami. “I don’t know where that’s come from.”

But former long-time Toro Rosso and Alpha Tauri (now Racing Bulls) team boss Tost, now retired but still a part-time Red Bull consultant, thinks the Imola upgrades are critical.

“It has to be right,” the Austrian told Sport1, “and that also applies to Ferrari and Mercedes. Otherwise, this world championship is over and McLaren will continue to dominate the rest of the season.

“Then, even an exceptional driver like Max Verstappen won’t be able to do anything.”

Horner, however, thinks Barcelona is an even more important date to mark in the diary – because it’s there that McLaren’s advantage with flexible wings should end.

“It will be a change,” he said. “How that will affect the different cars with the stiffening of the front wings? Who knows how that will play out.”

The terrible news for Red Bull in Miami, however, is that even with the introduction of a brand new floor design on Max Verstappen’s car, the lap time gap to the McLarens in the race was a huge seven tenths per lap.

“Our tires are still overheating,” the quadruple world champion said when asked about the new floor. “The car still doesn’t make it easy for me. The balance is just not right.”

Team advisor Dr Helmut Marko admits the Miami floor was a disappointment.

“We expected more from it,” he said. “But it just wasn’t enough.”

Marko said Lando Norris’ recovery in the race “showed the true pace of the McLarens”.

“They were between seven tenths and one second faster per lap. That’s pretty depressing,” said the 82-year-old.

There has been ongoing speculation that McLaren’s success is the result of a secret system that cools the outer surface of its rear brake drum.

Auto Motor und Sport’s Michael Schmidt dove deep into the lap times and telemetry from the 57-lap race at the Miami International Autodrome to break down why the 27-year-old finished a whopping 40 seconds behind the leading McLaren duo in his Red Bull sled.

“McLaren has one part, which they control better than any other team, and that is the tire management. There is not a single car that can keep the tires at the right temperature so well. They drove away as if Verstappen was in a Formula 2 car, with a difference of 1.3 seconds per lap,” he explained as quoted by F1Maximaal.nl. But is it just that McLaren is so good on its tires, or did Red Bull’s struggles further accentuate the MCL39? As a matter of fact, yes.

The theory is that McLaren’s clever brake drum design allows airflow to cool the wheel rim and hence air temperature inside the tire.

The McLaren’s dominance at Miami pointed out again the MCL 39 perfect tyres management. Teams attention is focused on the sophisticated brakes drums managing to better control and reduce tyres wear. pic.twitter.com/Af9XTaPfQo

— Giorgio Piola_design (@pioladesign) May 5, 2025

Horner stepped around the issue on Monday by saying McLaren made similar moves at the beginning of the 2024 season — when Red Bull still had the dominant car on the grid.

“I’m not suggesting that there’s anything illegal on the car,” Horner told reporters.

“Well done to McLaren, they were in a league of their own.

“Of course in Formula 1 there are always going to be questions that are raised.

“[McLaren] did exactly the same about the front suspension on our car last year. So it’s inevitable when you’re running at the front, as we have for the last few years, you always come under more scrutiny.

“McLaren have got the car to beat at the moment, that’s quite clear. They’re going to be tough to beat over the next few races.”