Red Bull boss addresses radical solution to fix RB21 woes

Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has ruled out the possibility of taking elements from the Racing Bulls car in a bid to ease the difficulties of the RB21 challenger.

Red Bull's car has proven tricky to handle for much of the current season.

While four-time champion Max Verstappen has been able to generate performance from the package, the Dutchman has often complained about the limitations of the car.

Yuki Tsunoda has consistently been unable to stick the car up the pecking order, having taken over from a struggling Liam Lawson earlier in the campaign.

Both drivers enjoyed greater success at Racing Bulls, a car that is known to be much kinder to drive.

When asked if it could take elements from its sister team and apply it to the RB21, Mekies told Sky F1: “I think the question is fair, but there's a genesis of the car.

“Where the cars are coming from is too different for anyone to transfer anything from one car to another.”

All F1 teams are required to operate independently, and while there are certain parts that can be bought from rival teams, the regulations state they must construct critical areas of the cars without influence from rival squads.

However, through images from photographers, teams are able to attempt to adapt their cars to what they see from other teams.

Mekies acknowledged it is much too late in the season for Red Bull to try such an approach. 

“It’s what Formula 1 is today, it’s 10 independent teams all coming with their own ideas about where to develop the car, what difficulties they found along the way, which development paths they have ended up having due to that,” he said.

“And there is nothing you could take from one car to another.

“It’s really down to how it was developed from early on.”