Red Bull to benefit from FIA rule change rivals hope would slow them down – Anyone who is even a casual watcher of Formula One will realise that Toto Wolff and Christian Horner are not the best of friends. Horner an experienced racer and boss in the junior Formula stepped up to F1 when Dietrich Mateschitz decided to buy the Jaguar team in 2004.

Wolff however has been a gentleman racer and came to F1 as a money man bringing finance to the cash strapped Williams team. His move to Mercedes again brought financial backing and was completed when the team had been bought from Brawn GP and the rebuilding process was significantly underway.

 

 

 

Horner v Wolff

Ross Brawn remained with Mercedes after the buyout and recruited Niki Lauda who immediately targeted Lewis Hamilton as a replacement for the ageing Michael Schumacher. Meanwhile Toto Wolff was empire building.

Christian Horner clearly believes Wolff doesn’t have the knowledge or experience that he has and over the years his demeanour has changed towards the Mercedes boss. Rather than react angrily when the regular flashpoints occur, he appears more calculated in his comments while his arch rival still shoots from the hip.

Last season with just one qualifying session completed, Toto declared the car his team had designed was not good enough and that they were going the wrong way down a “one way street.” Wolff manages during the bad times by publicly repeating the team are failing to meet their own high standards, while Horner creates more of an us against the world mentality.

Recent comments from Adrian Newey would now suggests one of the most infamous moments in recent F1 paddock history may well have been Christian Horner leading Toto Wolff up a blind alley of his own making.

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Mercedes beg for rule change

Following the introduction of the new ground effect regulations in 2022, Mercedes were in deep trouble with their car bouncing violently and with Lewis Hamilton struggling to extract himself from the car after the long race in Baku. A huge row erupted in Canada at a team principals meeting which pitted Horner and Wolff as the main protagonists.

At the heart of there matter, Toto Wolff had been advised by his team that their car was failing to work as well as the RB18 at lower ride heights which was causing the porpoising issue. But the cars would travel faster at the lower height so raising it would reduce performance. Wolff was attempting to achieve a consensus to have the ride heights changed to solve the porpoising problem Mercedes were struggling with more than most, but Horner and others were resisting his appeals as Netflix documented.

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Wolff rant at Horner

Wolff: “I can tell you that all of you are playing a dangerous game. If a car ends the wall because it is too stiff or it is bottoming out, you are in the s**t and I’m gonna come after you.”

Horner: “Are we playing to the cameras here? I think this is probably better off camera.”

Wolff: “I don’t care. If you think this is a little game on performance, I’ll tell you, you are very, very wrong.”

Horner: “Change your car. You’ve got a problem, change your f**king car.”

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FIA intervene

However, Mercedes persisted with their public claims that the cars were dangerous and implored through the media the FIA to act, which they did. The floors were mandated to be 15mm higher for 2023 and the throat of the defuser was also raised by 10mm.

Several teams including Red Bull pushed back against the FIA proposals with Christian Horner claiming, “It’s a very late point in the year to be doing this [July ’22].”

Regulation changes are usually agreed a season in advance and such a change would usually require the unanimous support of the teams. However the FIA can act unilaterally on the grounds of health and safety at short notice and change pretty much any regulation without consulting the teams.

Adrian Newey now explains how he cautioned his team principal against protesting too much having considered the effect the rule change would have on their car.

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Red Bull were struggling versus Ferrari

Speaking to the Race, Newey states: “Ah, the interesting thing about that was when the change was announced…. we were discussing it internally,” Newey said.

“Some of our guys were saying, ‘No, we’ve got to really fight this’

“But I took the view that, actually, in the high-speed corners last year, we were probably behind Ferrari.

“Our car was getting itself into problems in the very high speed so, actually, that reg change might suit us – so we didn’t really push against it too much.

“It turned out it seems it has suited us.”

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Newey experience crucial

Horner played his hand well and Wolff trumpeted to the world that the cars should be raised to Red Bull’s advantage.

Yet other comments made by Newey reveal why Red Bull have truly mastered the new ground effect regulations while the rest of the field is playing catchup. The guru designer tells of an event early in his life which formed his opinions over the bouncing phenomena.

“I remember when I was at Fittipaldi, Harvey Postlethwaite had a thing about rising rate rubber suspension and he decided to save a bit of weight on the car he’d try to throw the springs and dampers away and just sit the car on a set of bump rubbers.

“It was the first time I’d ever been to a racetrack and in the old pits at Silverstone Keke Rosberg came past and the car was bouncing so heavily you could see air beneath the front tyres. He came in after one lap, eyes wide, and said ‘That doesn’t work!

“That was the first time for me I realised bouncing wasn’t purely an aerodynamic problem,” freaked Newey.

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Mercedes may be further behind in 2024

And this has been the key to Red Bull’s success over the past two seasons in that it is their wholistic view of the car which has benefitted its development rather than focusing on trying to achieve maximum downforce via the airflow under the car.

And this is a huge problem for Mercedes, as they scrap the concept of their F1 racing platform they have now run for two seasons and start again with a blank sheet of paper.

It could be Hamilton again is claiming his 2024 F1 car is the worst he’s ever driven as the team will require time to blend their new chassis platform, underfloor downforce and suspension and body shape to slowly improve the performance of their car.

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