Former Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer has indicated that Rob Marshall, Red Bull’s former chief engineering officer, is likely responsible for leaking the team’s aerodynamic “secret sauce” to McLaren following his move to the Papaya team this year. This shift is reflected in the remarkable performance of McLaren’s MCL38 F1 car.
Marshall joined McLaren after an 18-year tenure with Red Bull, where he spent 17 years collaborating closely with Red Bull’s chief technical officer, Adrian Newey. His contributions were pivotal in securing the team’s title victories with former driver Sebastian Vettel and current championship leader Max Verstappen.
Newey and his team played a crucial role in creating a distinctive “secret sauce” for the technically challenging ground effect era that began in 2022. This innovation gave Red Bull a remarkable start to the new season, allowing Max Verstappen to optimize his performance at every Grand Prix throughout the year.
The 2023 F1 season witnessed the Red Bull RB19’s overwhelming dominance, with the team clinching 21 victories out of 22 races, while other teams struggled with the complexities of ground effect aerodynamics. However, the 2024 season is shaping up to present a completely different and unexpected scenario.
Szafnauer suggests that McLaren’s impressive resurgence this year, outperforming Red Bull’s RB20, indicates that the Woking team has effectively unlocked its car’s aerodynamic potential. McLaren is the only team consistently challenging Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, while Mercedes and Ferrari have also shown promising pace.
Currently, Red Bull holds a narrow lead over McLaren in the Constructors’ Championship, with only a 42-point margin. Regarding Marshall’s influence on boosting McLaren’s prospects, Szafnauer claimed that a single individual can profoundly impact a team’s technical direction. He elaborated on this point during an appearance on the James Allen on F1 podcast:
“It’s definitely possible for one person to come in and say: ‘The secret sauce at Red Bull was this, you should be looking in this direction.’
“When you hear things like the aero performance is unlocked through some mechanical design elements of the car – and you know what those are and how those mechanical design elements actually unlock the performance – you can point that team in that direction to start looking here.
“It’s that direction that you then start looking in and find performance.
“Absolutely one person can make that difference, especially when you have a massive rule change like we’ve had.
“We’re now into ground-effect cars where we weren’t before and if there was some mechanical elements of the car that others didn’t have, then it can happen.
“I’m not saying that’s what it was, but I do think that there’s performance to be had in that area that isn’t pure aerodynamics, but is an aero enabler.”
It appears that Red Bull’s “secret sauce” could go many places, considering Newey’s recent exit announcement, followed by the poaching of Red Bull sporting director Jonathan Wheatley by Audi, who will take over the team principal role mid-next-year.
