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Red Bull Racing Esports star Marcel Kiefer felt both joy and despair on Wednesday night, as his team scored victories but also missed out on an even bigger haul of points.
“I’m feeling pretty mixed. Of course I’m happy, it’s my first win of the season, and it was a great drive” he said after the second race of the evening in Monza.
“But it was only a perfect strategy in terms of the team. Frede [Rasmussen] and I tried to replicate what we did last year in Austria, and it was 10 times harder because Monza is just a straight with chicanes.”
Austria 2020 is well-remembered as perhaps the peak of teamwork in the F1 Esports Series. Kiefer and Rasmussen broke away from the chasing pack early, forming a two-car DRS bubble. The Red Bull Wall, as commentator Alex Jacques put it, was solid. And though eventual champion Jarno Opmeer pressurised the pair in the closing laps with an alternate strategy, he could not budge the pair, and a home 1-2 was the sweetest reward.
But as Kiefer aptly puts it, Monza is a wholly different beast, with full throttle for most of the lap making such a strategy much more difficult.
“Austria actually has a bit of dirty air in the middle and final sectors, so it’s a bit easier to pull off. What Frede and I did there with me using my ERS trying to build a gap behind was awesome. But then Frede got taken out at the end, so I’m actually not too happy. The first thing in my mind is that he got taken out, so it’s a frustrating one.”
A 1-2 finish would certainly have been a welcome result for the team. Mercedes lead the way on 122 points after five races, with Red Bull trailing by 19 points on 103. It’s not hard to imagine a dead heat at the top of the standings in an alternate timeline where Rasmussen maintained P2.
Victory for Frede in Silverstone, and for Marcel in Monza, certainly makes for happy reading in the Bull pen. But the team have always put the needs of the many above the needs of the few. A 1-7 in the former and a 1-8 in the latter means even more points could have been on offer.
“It was the same thing last year, and before joined the team in 2020,” Kiefer continued.
“In 2019 and 2020 the team won, and it’s the same for this year – we want to stay on top of the game and win again and make it three in a row.”
All eyes are now on the final race of Event 3 in Spa – a race where Red Bull again narrowly missed out on a 1-2 finish last season. Rasmussen and Kiefer controlled the race, but a last-lap lunge from Spa specialist Dani Bereznay divided the Bulls as they crossed the line.
They do have a lucky charm on their side this year however. With two wins in white, Red Bull’s special Honda tribute livery has treated them well so far, so could it see a third and final victory before it disappears from the game?
“It’s always good to get a win, especially with the white Red Bull. I have a huge crush on it! So far we’ve had some good luck with it – nearly a 1-2 which after the collision didn’t happen, but let’s see, Maybe in Spa we can get it!”
You can catch Marcel, Frede, and indeed the rest of the F1 Esports gang going for the win in Spa on Thursday evening, from 1930 BST.
