阿塞拜疆大奖赛红牛缘何飞驰：修复引擎问题后的双领奖台
在修复了维斯塔潘排位赛中出现异常的内燃机问题后，红牛在巴库大奖赛中充分发挥动力单元优势，斩获车队本赛季首个F1双车领奖台，维斯塔潘与小将哈贾尔分别冲上第二、第三。
阿塞拜疆大奖赛红牛缘何在维斯塔潘排位赛问题之后如此之快
红牛在阿塞拜疆大奖赛中充分发挥其强劲动力单元的威力，收获双车领奖台
红牛或许会认为国际汽联对其拥有最强动力单元的评估是一把双刃剑，但在阿塞拜疆大奖赛上，这正是其夺得首个F1双车领奖台的关键。
在排位赛之后修复了维斯塔潘表现异常的内燃机——这一问题导致他在痛苦的第三节排位赛失利、仅列第八位发车之后，他与队友伊萨克·哈贾尔得以在巴库展现红牛的强大实力，分别冲上第二和第三位。
这标志着红牛近两年半以来首次包揽前二名次完赛，车队也承认，如果不是维斯塔潘在排位赛中的困境，他们本来更有可能赢下比赛。
但在本赛季很长一段时间里，这辆车都被认为只是发车区上第四快的赛车，那么这股速度上的转机究竟从何而来？
红牛车队领队洛朗·梅基斯详细说明了几个因素，首先是红牛-福特动力单元：“我们拥有一台出色的动力单元，但它有一个比较窄的最佳使用区间。需要位于米尔顿凯恩斯的团队和赛道边的每一位成员付出大量精力，才能让我们保持在这个狭窄的性能窗口之内。我们每天都在做这件事，这个周末也没有什么不同。”
“每一条赛道都带来了如何做到这一点的挑战，你可以从我们与车手的无线电通话中听到这一点。因此，做好正确的能量管理、正确的动力输出分配以及正确的功率使用，无疑一直是让我们忙个不停的事情。”
众所周知，红牛拥有围场中最强大的内燃机，而将其调校进“相当狭窄的区间”并优化电力输出，意味着它在巴库的直道上拥有充沛的动力。红牛的姐妹车队小红牛使用同款引擎，在正赛的速度陷阱中名列第一，利亚姆·劳森测得349.4公里/小时，而维斯塔潘和哈贾尔也都跻身最高速度前十。
这一利器让两位车手都有能力从前排车手中杀出重围，梅基斯承认，如果不是维斯塔潘在排位赛中遇到引擎故障，本可能取得更好的成绩。
“我们在动力单元上遇到了两个不同的问题，”他说。“这在昨天的排位赛中让我们付出了很大代价。但事实就是这样，这是比赛的一部分。
“平心而论，马克斯从周五开始就非常强势，如果没有动力单元的问题，昨天他本可能争夺头排甚至更好的发车位置。所以当然，今天用新引擎解决了这个问题，让我们恢复了原本期望具备的竞争力。”
维斯塔潘认为巴库是红牛在2026年赢得首胜的最好机会——也可能是最后的机会，因为占据统治地位的车队梅赛德斯将于下周末在（原文如此）马来西亚举行的巴林大奖赛上带来一套重大升级包。
梅基斯呼应了今年一级方程式中升级对性能排序有重大影响这一普遍看法。尽管他的车队承认今年不会再带来另一套重大升级包，他仍然保持乐观，认为车队仍有机会避免自2015年以来首次出现整年无胜绩的一级方程式赛季。
“我们今年已经看到，性能排序会随着升级的时机而交替变化，”他说，“不过我认为重要的是，在从澳大利亚到这里的相当长一段时间里，我们并没有带来大升级包，但我们仍然设法缩小了差距。”
“如果你看看马德里，我们在马德里距离杆位只有百分之一秒半，我想在蒙扎我们距离杆位是百分之二秒。所以我们靠着车队里所有人的努力——底盘方面、动力单元方面、从现有赛车规格中挖掘潜力——缩小了那个差距。然后是的，今天的升级可能又给了我们一点额外优势，把最后那百分之之一秒也吃掉了。
“我们需要看看它在其他赛道上的耐用性如何，然后再决定我们如何应对其他竞争对手。”
英文原文
What made Red Bull so fast in the Azerbaijan GP after Max Verstappen’s qualifying issue
Red Bull fully utilised its punchy power unit in the Azerbaijan GP to great effect to secure a double podium
Red Bull might consider the FIA’s assessment that it has the strongest power unit as a blessing and a curse, but at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix it was key to its first double Formula 1 podium.
After fixing Max Verstappen’s ill-behaving internal combustion engine after qualifying, an issue that triggered his painful Q3 which left him eighth on the grid, both he and team-mate Isack Hadjar were able to demonstrate Red Bull’s prowess in Baku to surge up to second and third respectively.
It marked Red Bull’s first double podium in almost two-and-a-half years and left the team accepting a victory would have been more likely without Verstappen’s qualifying woes.
But where did this turn of pace come from having been considered to have the fourth-fastest car on the grid for long periods of this season?
Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies detailed a couple of factors, starting with its Red Bull-Ford power unit: “We have a fantastic PU, we have a fairly narrow band to use it at best. And it takes a lot of energy from everyone back in Milton Keynes and on the race track to try to keep us on the narrow window of performance. So that's what we do every day, there was nothing different this weekend.
“Every track comes with this challenge on how you do that and you hear it with our radio communications, with our drivers. So getting the right energy management, getting the right deployment and getting the right power is certainly something that keeps us busy.”
As is well documented, Red Bull has the most powerful internal combustion engine on the grid, and getting it into the “fairly narrow band” along with optimising electrical deployment meant it had plenty of punch on Baku’s straights. Red Bull’s sister squad, Racing Bulls, which runs the same engines, topped the speed trap in the race with Liam Lawson clocking 349.4km/h, while both Verstappen and Hadjar sat into the top 10 for highest speeds.
It was a tool that gave both drivers the ability to carve through the frontrunners and Mekies acknowledged had it not been for Verstappen’s engine problem in qualifying, an even better result was possible.
“We had two different issues in terms of power units,” he said. “It has cost us a lot yesterday [in qualifying]. But that's what it is, that's part of the game.
“I think in fairness Max was very strong from Friday onwards and probably would have been fighting for that first row or more yesterday without the issues we had with the PU. So of course, fixing that today [in the race] with the new engine has allowed us to go back to the competitive level that we were hoping to have.”
Verstappen felt Baku was Red Bull’s best – and potentially last – chance of a first win in 2026 with dominant squad Mercedes set to deliver a major upgrade package next weekend at the Bahrain GP in Malaysia.
Mekies echoed the common theme of upgrades having a major influence on the performance order in F1 this season and, despite his team admitting it will not deliver another major update package this year, he remains optimistic it will still have opportunities to avoid a first win-less F1 season for the team since 2015.
“We have seen this year the pecking order has been alternating based on the timing of the upgrades,” he said. “I think what is however important is that in the fairly long timeframe between Australia and here, where we didn't have a big package coming, we have nonetheless managed to close that gap.
“If you look at Madrid, we were a tenth-and-a-half from pole in Madrid, I think we were two tenths from pole in Monza. So we have managed to close that gap with everyone in the team, chassis side, PU side, extracting from the actual car specifications. And then yes, the upgrades today probably gave us another edge and has eaten up that last tenth.
“We need to see how it's lasting on other tracks and then how we will react to the other competitors.”
Motorsport.com ·
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