Can Purple Bull carry its shock tempo into Baku?

When Max Verstappen stated again in Hungary that he didn’t anticipate Purple Bull to win one other grand prix for the rest of the 2025 season, actuality turned out otherwise. The Dutchman gained in Monza, and did so in dominant trend. Verstappen constructed a lead of virtually 20 seconds, though Lando Norris jokingly stated in the course of the post-race press convention: “It was 19, no? I simply don’t need any misinformation!”

On a extra critical notice, Verstappen and Purple Bull’s superior tempo at Monza got here as a shock to many within the paddock, together with McLaren. It raises the query: how a lot of it was Monza-specific, and the way a lot of that efficiency offers Verstappen hope for the races to come back?

“You do plenty of issues just for Monza. You do wings just for Monza, you do set-up just for Monza, so final yr was a really tough level and the blokes did an incredible job analysing final yr and coming right here with very particular options,” replied Purple Bull staff principal Laurent Mekies. “So to reply your query, tonight we most likely assume that plenty of it’s Monza-specific, however we’ll discover out in Baku how a lot of the learnings with the brand new elements we had [floor] and with the best way we ran the automobile will be transferred to different tracks.”

Mekies instantly touched on two vital factors. Concerning the automobile itself, a part of the standout efficiency was certainly track-specific. Not solely did Purple Bull have a much-improved low-downforce package deal – not like final yr – however the RB21 usually performs higher on tracks like Monza. It’s a view Verstappen shares: “I feel it is nonetheless a bit observe dependent. In Monza you drive low downforce. It looks as if our automobile is a little more aggressive when it’s low-downforce to medium-downforce. It isn’t that instantly we’re again, and it isn’t like we are able to battle each single weekend now.”

That stated, it ought to be famous that Baku, with its lengthy straights, may go well with Purple Bull pretty effectively. The road circuit in Azerbaijan is a little bit of a blended bag for the staff. The lengthy full-throttle sections ought to play to the RB21’s strengths, however Verstappen has repeatedly acknowledged that road circuits and bumps stay two main weaknesses. Baku has each positives and negatives for Purple Bull – although general, it ought to nonetheless be an affordable match. So it’s no coincidence that Helmut Marko, even earlier than the Italian GP, named Baku as a possible likelihood to win. The true check will comply with afterwards in Singapore, a observe that theoretically fits the RB21 a lot much less.

Can Purple Bull apply the Monza classes in Baku?

The opposite facet Mekies referred to was how Purple Bull “ran the automobile” in Monza. It hyperlinks again to what the staff has described as a “new philosophy” in the course of the Italian GP weekend, one which Purple Bull hopes to hold ahead into Baku and past.

“The optimistic is that we appear to know a bit extra what we have to do with the automobile to be extra aggressive. So I hope that carries on into the upcoming rounds as effectively, though some tracks shall be a bit higher than others,” Verstappen confirmed.

That understanding pertains to what Marko defined in Monza: at occasions relying much less on the simulator, and as a substitute giving larger weight to driver suggestions. “Our strategy is now: no matter what the simulator tells us, we combine that with Max’s expertise and the expertise of our engineers,” stated the 82-year-old Austrian. “The entire technical staff is now way more open and discusses issues collectively. They now not blindly comply with what the simulator says.”

Pierre Wache nonetheless performs an vital position within the technical staff that Marko talked about, being the staff’s technical director. The Frenchman additionally acknowledges that Purple Bull’s strategy to automobile set-up has modified barely after the summer time break.

“It has given us a distinct route of organising the automobile. We already discovered that route in Zandvoort, however that was nonetheless a really completely different degree of downforce, a degree that’s not so good for us. In Monza, we’ve optimised it additional, and I feel we are going to see if it really works on different tracks as effectively.” Requested whether or not meaning relying much less on the simulation instruments going ahead, Wache replied: “Nicely, we nonetheless use all of the instruments at our disposal, however with the restrictions in thoughts.”

If Purple Bull can discover the working window of the RB21 at different venues as effectively, the staff has good hope to be extra aggressive – despite the fact that Wache doesn’t anticipate a repeat of Monza: “Clearly, they [McLaren] are very fast. And they’re at all times there. However in comparison with final yr it was no less than vital for us to bounce again. Final yr we struggled massively in Monza.”

The struggles in Baku have been much less extreme than in Monza. Sergio Perez was in podium rivalry till his late contact with Carlos Sainz, throughout a race that marked the second win of Oscar Piastri’s Components 1 profession and totally reignited the flexi-wings debate within the paddock.

Sergio Perez, Purple Bull Racing RB20

Photograph by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Photos

With final yr’s efficiency in thoughts, plus the marginally adjusted strategy, Marko is cautiously optimistic forward of subsequent weekend: “For Baku and people quick circuits, I am very optimistic. Singapore is the one race we have not gained up to now, and usually it’s a bit tougher for us on sluggish circuits. However I imagine that all the things is feasible now in this time period.”

Above all, Purple Bull hopes that the teachings from Zandvoort and Monza will assist to seek out the RB21’s best set-up window extra typically – irrespective of how small which may be. If the staff can hit the candy spot of the automobile, the RB21 won’t at all times be as poor as has lengthy been feared, additionally internally.

Whether or not that interprets into extra success on observe, nonetheless will depend on the kind of observe and on McLaren, nevertheless it might no less than enable Purple Bull to be an element sometimes. Not essentially in Monza-style dominance, however heading in the right direction, one other standout result’s removed from inconceivable – regardless of Verstappen’s pessimistic prediction heading into the summer time break.