Christian Horner reveals Red Bull’s limitations

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has highlighted that his team faces huge challenges with its Bedford-based ’60-year-old’ Cold War-era wind tunnel, with cars of Formula 1 more and more aerodynamically advanced. The revelation comes in the wake of balance issues facing Red Bull in its RB20 F1 car.

The 2024 season marks a stark contrast for Red Bull compared to their dominant performance during the 2022 and 2023 seasons in the ground-effect era. The key factor behind this change lies in the car’s aerodynamics, which were thrown into disarray after the Miami Grand Prix. Red Bull attributes the problem to a balance issue, where even small set-up adjustments make the RB20 too sensitive to changes between sessions during a race weekend.

Although the problem initially appeared more pronounced in Sergio Perez’s car after the Chinese Grand Prix, it became clear that Max Verstappen was also dealing with it when McLaren’s Lando Norris took victory at the Dutch GP, finishing 20 seconds ahead of Verstappen.

While Horner revealed that the team had identified the root cause of the problem that saw McLaren overtake Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship, he pointed out that the team’s old wind tunnel that used to develop its cars he is now too old to deal with the level. aerodynamics of modern F1 cars. While Red Bull’s new state-of-the-art wind tunnel is an ongoing project, it won’t be until 2027 that the team can fully utilize it. Speaking to Autosport in an interview, he said:

“We have always known the limitations of the tunnel.

“But I think as we’ve really started to push the aerodynamics of these cars now and you’re in really good margins, then the limitations show.”

Horner recalled when wind tunnels were on the verge of being banned until Aston Martin stepped in. He added:

“There was a time when wind tunnels could have been banned.

“There was some discussion about whether that would be the case and whether CFD would beat it or not.

“Adrian (Newey) kept pushing for a new tunnel until there was clarity. But it got to a point where Aston Martin wanted a new tunnel and the FIA ​​changed its position.

“So it was about, ‘Look, we have to do this, and we have to do it now, because the regulations dictate that, within a cost limit, the tunnel we’re running is very inefficient.'”

Speaking about the current wind tunnel issues, Red Bull team boss said:

“We have a facility that is a 60-year-old wind tunnel. It is a relic of the Cold War.

“It’s been good enough to produce some great cars for us over the years. But it has its limitations.

“So anything below five degrees (Celsius), we can’t run it. Anything above 25 degrees, it becomes quite unstable.”