维斯塔潘签约时是否已知红牛升级效果？
红牛自巴库站以来取得巨大进步，维斯塔潘随后在马来西亚和新加坡的三连赛中都获胜；但他和车队领队洛朗·梅基斯强调，续约主要基于对长期前景的信心。
维斯塔潘在签下新合同时，是否已经知道红牛重大升级带来的影响？
红牛自巴库站以来取得了巨大进步，尽管维斯塔潘和车队领队洛朗·梅基斯强调，延长合作主要基于对长期前景的信心。
当马克斯·维斯塔潘在蒙扎时，他仍在认真考虑本赛季可能一场不胜的可能性，但如今情况已大不相同。
维斯塔潘在巴库站非常接近胜利，随后在马来西亚和新加坡的三连赛中连续夺冠。
这与今年年初形成了巨大反差，当时红牛在车队排序中仅列第四，有时甚至在与哈斯和阿尔派缠斗。
不出所料，这再次引发了关于维斯塔潘未来的大量猜测，尽管他在赞德福特透露，实际上他距离提前从F1退役比距离转投其他车队要近得多。
在维斯塔潘的主场比赛之前，消息终于传出：这位荷兰车手与红牛本已长期的合同经过重新谈判，又延长了两年。
如今，这支位于米尔顿凯恩斯的车队已取得巨大进步并再次为胜利而战，问题随之而来：他在签约时是否已经知道得更多。
换句话说，维斯塔潘是否已经知道红牛会凭借下一套升级包重新具备竞争力？
“不，并不真的如此，那更多只是谈论未来，当然还有关于车队如何向前推进的想法，”维斯塔潘回答道。“而且我喜欢那些想法。也并不是说他们真的需要说服我或怎样，那只是你与车队进行的日常交流。
“而对我来说，与这支车队合作一直非常愉快。自然，是的，随着我们取得的进展，这是一个不错的额外收获，因为在前方战斗当然更令人满足。”
维斯塔潘还补充说，巴库的升级不仅仅关乎绝对性能。或许比纯粹的载荷和圈速提升更重要的是，小红牛22 已经再次变得相当可预测。
而这恰恰让驾驶方向盘后的车手能够再次发挥更大的作用，至少在当前动力单元规则允许的范围内是如此。
维斯塔潘解释道：“我们赛车最大的变化是变得可预测和平衡多了，而在年初的时候，很多时候我进弯前都不知道会发生什么。那时候，赛车确实出现了很多奇怪的情况。”
“这就是为什么你永远无法真正把它开到极限，因为你不知道极限在哪里，或者极限突然就变了。在最近几个比赛周末，这种（变化）让情况好了很多，就是更清楚极限在哪里，并且有了更可预测的平衡。”
车队领队洛朗·梅基斯也驳斥了红牛已经在巴库预见到巨大进步、并借此说服维斯塔潘签约的说法。
“简短的回答是没有。我们并不是在等待一个本应让我们达到那个性能水平的神奇升级，”这位法国人澄清道。
马克斯·维斯塔潘，红牛车队，洛朗·梅基斯，红牛车队领队
“我们知道会有升级到来，也知道巴库将是今年的最后一次。这是赛车研发趋势的延续，而且正如我之前所说，当时我们其实觉得可能很难弥补最后那零点三秒。
“所以在那时的讨论中，这绝对不是说服[马克斯]的理由。”
梅基斯强调，维斯塔潘的续约更多是基于长期考量，以及他对红牛未来能够继续为其提供有竞争力赛车的信心。
就此而言，巴库站的升级并非主要用于说服他，而是在内部更多地被视为一个例证，说明当所有拼图各就各位时所能达到的水平。
“我认为从更宏观的角度看，我们知道皮埃尔[瓦什]的团队和本[霍奇金森]的团队内部动态非常强劲，无论是在底盘方面还是动力单元方面，我们都感受到了赛车套件仍具备的潜力，”梅基斯继续说道。
“是的，这就是我们与马克斯进行的那类讨论。这与巴库站的套件或任何其他套件无关，而是关乎底层因素以及我们认为长期机会所在之处。但不，没有任何具体针对巴库站套件的内容。”
关于那些长期机会，梅基斯和维斯塔潘都继续强调，目前的情况仍然不够好。红牛还没有达到那个水平，仍需解决几个潜在的弱点。
以当前的底盘和预算帽的限制，这在2026年将不再可能，这就是为什么维斯塔潘反复强调，如果红牛要再次持续在前列竞争，2027年的赛车还需要进一步的改变。
英文原文
Did Max Verstappen already know the impact of Red Bull’s big upgrade when he signed his new deal?
Red Bull has made a huge step forward since Baku, although Verstappen and team principal Laurent Mekies stress that the extended partnership is primarily based on confidence in the longer term
While Max Verstappen was still seriously considering the possibility of ending this Formula 1 season without winning a single race at Monza, things now look considerably different.
Verstappen came remarkably close to victory in Baku before actually coming out on top in the subsequent races of the triple-header in Malaysia and Singapore.
It marks a huge contrast with the beginning of this year, when Red Bull was a distant fourth in the pecking order and at times even found itself fighting Haas and Alpine.
Unsurprisingly, that sparked plenty of speculation about Verstappen's future again, although he revealed at Zandvoort that, in reality, he had come much closer to an early F1 retirement than to switching teams.
Ahead of Verstappen's home race, the news finally emerged: the Dutchman's already long-term deal with Red Bull had been renegotiated and extended by another two years.
Now that the Milton Keynes-based squad has made a huge step forward and is fighting for victories again, the question arises whether he might already have known more when he signed.
In other words, did Verstappen already know that Red Bull would become competitive again with its next upgrade package?
“No, not really, it was more just talking about the future, and of course the ideas about how the team is moving forward,” Verstappen replied. “And I liked those ideas. It’s also not that they really needed to convince me or whatever, it's just the general chat that you have with the team.
“And for me, it's been really enjoyable to work with this team. Naturally, yes, with the progress that we have had, it's a nice bonus, because fighting up front is a lot more satisfying, of course.”
Verstappen also added that the Baku upgrade is not just about outright performance. Perhaps even more important than the pure gains in load and lap time is the fact that the RB22 has become considerably more predictable again.
And that is precisely what allows the driver behind the wheel to make more of a difference again, at least as far as the limitations of the current power unit regulations allow him to do so.
“The big thing that has changed with our car is that has just become a lot more predictable and balanced, where in the beginning of the year many times I didn't know what was going to happen going into a corner,” Verstappen explained. “Back then, a lot of weird things did happen with the car.
“That's why you could never really run it to the limit, because you didn't know where the limit was, or suddenly the limit had shifted. That [change] has made it a lot better in the last few race weekends, just knowing a bit more where the limit is and having a more predictable balance.”
Team principal Laurent Mekies also dismissed the suggestion that Red Bull had already anticipated the huge progress in Baku and had been able to use it to convince Verstappen to put pen to paper.
“The short answer is no. We were not waiting for a magic upgrade that was supposed to bring us to the performance,” the Frenchman clarified.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Laurent Mekies, Red Bull Racing Team Principal
“We knew that we had upgrades coming and we also knew that Baku would be the last one of this year. It was continuing the trend of the development of the car, and as I said earlier, at the time we actually felt that we would probably struggle to close those final three tenths.
“So it was certainly not an argument of convincing [Max] at the time of the discussions.”
Mekies stressed that Verstappen's contract extension was instead based on the longer term and on his confidence that Red Bull can continue to provide him with competitive machinery in the future.
In that respect, the Baku upgrade was not so much used to convince him, but is seen internally more as an example of what is possible when all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place.
“I think more globally, we knew that the dynamic was very strong in Pierre [Wache]'s team and in Ben [Hodgkinson]'s team, in terms of what we felt was still the potential of the car package, both on the chassis side and on the PU side,” Mekies continued.
“And yes, this is the sort of discussion we had with Max. It’s not about the Baku package or any other package, but about the underlying factors and where we felt the long-term opportunities were. But no, nothing specifically about the Baku package.”
As for those long-term opportunities, both Mekies and Verstappen continue to stress that the current situation is still not good enough. Red Bull is not there yet and still needs to address several underlying weaknesses.
With the current chassis and the limitations of the budget cap, that will no longer be possible in 2026, which is why Verstappen has repeatedly emphasised that further changes will be needed for the 2027 car if Red Bull is to compete consistently at the front again.
Motorsport.com ·
内容来自公开信源，聚合内容版权归原作者与来源所有。