Red Bull prominent engineer calls out “bulls**” theory – Today the FIA made a mid-season tweak to the regulations applicable to the legality of braking systems on Formula One cars. This led to ex-Ferrari boss and senior F1 commentator Peter Windsor claiming it was down to Red Bull trickery which was outside the rules.

Windsor claims: “Looks as though RBR might have been running a clever rear cross-brake inertia valve before they were obliged to remove it before Miami,” he stated. “This could explain Max’s RR brake drama in MEL (Melbourne) and his turn-in grief since China.”

Red Bull have been experiencing their worst run since the introduction of ground effect cars in 2022 and over the past nine Grand Prix have won just three. Verstappen is also on his longest run without a win in the new breed F1 cars with his last victory five races ago in Spain and just one podium over the next four.

 

 

 

With McLaren firing on all cylinders and both their drivers claiming maiden F1 victories in Miami and Hungary, the constructors’ championship has tightened significantly with the Woking based squad no just 42 points behind the world champions.

One explanation offered was that Red Bull were suffering from the FIA’s handicap system which sees the more successful a team is, the less time they are allowed with their aerodynamic tools. Wind Tunnel and Computer Fluid Dynamics tools are used to test theoretical new components before they are manufactured to scale and fitted to the car.

Red Bulls first big upgrade of the season came in Hungary, but the performance expected did not materialise on track. The RB20 returned to its pre-Budapest form for the final race in Spa before the summer break.

The reason for Windsor’s suspicions are due to a change in the FIA’s technical regulations relating to brakes. Article 11.1.2 which stated: “The brake system must be designed so that within each circuit, the forces applied to the brake pads are the same magnitude and act as opposing pairs on a given brake disc.”

Binotto “resets” driver talks for Audi

 

 

 

Now the FIA have added the following. “The braking system must be designed so that, within each circuit, the forces applied to the brake pads are of the same magnitude and act as opposing pairs on a given brake disc.”

So the rule prior to the recent tweak insisted the pressure was equal from both braking systems across a single axle. Not this restricts the teams from using unequal pressure on the inside and outside of each brake disc.

F1 technical guru Craig Scarborough posted following the FIA news: “This makes sense and underlined by the tech reg change. A return of the Newey fiddle brake, but automatic & creating a turning moment with the rear brakes.

A simple weighted valve in the rear brake splitter could do this altering the effort between the callipers as the car turns.”

Indycar champion rejects F1 drive

 

 

 

So what advantage would this trickery in the braking system bring to an F1 car? This kind of asymmetric braking where different forces are applied to each side of the disc would address low speed understeer and oversteer at higher speeds by having a greater force on the outside calliper than applied by the one on the inside.

Low speed understeer is problematic for a driver like Max Verstappen who muscles his car through the slower corners unlike a Jenson Button who remains as smooth as possible. When talking about the overweight RB18 back in 2022 Verstappen explained his feelings for a car which understeers.

In relation to the overweight RB18, Verstappen had this to say about his driving style and understeer.

“Well, now it was just related to the weight of the car,” he said. “Being really overweight created an understeering balance and once we started to get rid of that, it started to be more agile again.

“Not just twitchy but more agile. You could really use the front end. At the end of the day, that’s also how you really drive a fast car. A car cannot be fast with understeer. It’s impossible. Especially with the tyres we had this year being a bit more understeer-limited as well. You cannot have a car like that.”

Porsche official statement on F1 return

 

 

 

So as Scarbs observes this would indeed be an adb=vantage to Max Verstappen’s driving style were Red Bull to have fitted such a system.

Now a Red Bull engineer has challenged Windsor’s initial claims. In a brutal response from one of the most prominent Red Bull pit lane engineers, Nicholas replied: “Yea… this is bulls***…. Unsurprisingly,” he hit back. Asked by a fan for his thought process, he replied: “I’ve been building the car for the last 14 races, he hasn’t.”

The FIA regulation in its original form did not ban the specific type of asymmetric braking which Windsor believes Red Bull were using and so they weren’t in breach of the letter of the law, though potentially circumventing the spirit of what the FIA intended.

Rumours have abounded that Max Verstappen could leave Red Bull for Mercedes or even Aston Martin should Adrian Newey finally lay his hat at the Silverstone based team. Yet this week the triple world champion appeared to confirm his immediate future was with Red Bull and would remain so at least until the end of 2026 when the new power units ands car designs have competed for a season.

Newey’s replacement makes worrying admission

 

 

 

Speaking about the new power units which Mercedes claim they are ahead of the field in developing, Max said: “Of course it means a lot and I appreciate the fact that I have a very long history with the team. Loyalty is very important and I think it is not always there in F1.

Max talks of the mutual loyalty between Red Bull and himself and of the astonishing new undertaking of the engine project

“Fortunately in my case, it is there and I think it is mutual for us. Key people stay with the team and now we have our own engine project.

“How is it going? I’m very confident, but we have to be realistic. We have to fight against people who have been making engines for over a hundred years. They have a lot of experience, but of course we have also signed a lot of people.”

“A lot of things have to stay together or come together and I also have to think about the future, what will happen after 2026. So I am patient.”

Real reason Ferrari rejected Newey

 

 

 

Alonso F1 retirement

Alonso retirement date set, says Briatore his manager – Fernando Alonso is an enigma amongst the pantheon of Formula One drivers. He is way down the list of oldest F1 drivers most of whom raced in the 1950’s and 60’s yet at age 43 he has chance of becoming the fifth oldest driver to win a Grand Prix.

That record is held by the legendary Jack Brabham who won his final race age 43 years, 339 days in the 1970 South Africa Grand Prix. Fernando will be over 45 when he completes his newly signed contract with Aston Martin and with Adrian Newey reportedly joining the Silverstone based team, the Spaniard will have high hopes of one last hurrah.

Fernando stands as the most experienced driver in F1 history, having made a total of 391 grand prix starts since his debut with Minardi in 2001. And with ten Grand Prix remaining this year and another 48 scheduled until the end of 2026, the Spaniard has the opportunity to extend this run to a whopping 499 starts at the pinnacle of motorsport… READ MORE