Red Bull driver makes 'undrivable' claim as major upgrades introduced

Sébastien Buemi has revealed that he believes Red Bull's upgrades for the Miami Grand Prix are a step forward, following the car having become "undrivable".

Buemi, who is a simulator driver for Red Bull alongside his racing commitments in Formula E and the World Endurance Championship, was in the simulator last week ahead of the Miami GP.

It has been a difficult start to the season for the Milton Keynes-based team, with Max Verstappen yet to claim a podium.

While its first power unit has proven to be impressive, Red Bull has struggled for outright performance, leaving it a distant fourth in the pecking order.

In an attempt to improve the RB22, the Austrian outfit has brought a major upgrade package to the Miami International Autodrome, which Buemi feels positive about after testing the parts in the simulator.

Discussing how hard Red Bull has worked to have the upgrade package ready for Miami, Buemi told RacingNews365 during an interview: "Everyone's worked very hard. It's been one of the longest breaks in the championship — I don't know how long.

"So a lot of people have basically worked very hard to bring upgrades. You know what you bring and how much performance it adds, but until you put it on track and see how much the others have improved — if you bring five tenths but everyone else brings seven — you're going to look worse.

"So hopefully we, as a team, bring more than some of the others."

Red Bull steps made

For Red Bull, a significant step is required with its new parts to get back into the mix with Ferrari and McLaren, while Mercedes remain the outright team to beat.

Buemi is eager not to put too much pressure on the upgrades but is confident they will trigger a positive response in Miami.

Asked if it feels much better, Buemi replied: "I think it does, yeah. I mean, 'much' is a big word, but I think it does."

Introducing upgrades has not been a simple task for Red Bull, which first had to understand the cause of its problems before coming up with solutions to fix them.

Its power unit is another area Red Bull is pushing to get more out of, especially as it has never designed an engine for F1 before.

"I think they've had those races where the car became undrivable, and first of all, that was a big, big thing to try to understand.

"First of all, you need to understand why. Then you need to fix it. And then also the engine — you know, it's the first time Red Bull has made its own engine.

"So there is a lot of work to do on the engine to try to improve it. We've just had three races, so we're working very hard on the engine to try to maximise everything."