Red Bull Racing were riding the crest of the wave of success come this time last year. The RB20 appeared to be from the very bloodline of its dominant predecessor which won 22 or the 23 races in 2023.

Last year Verstappen won the opening rounds in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and come Melbourne he was on the cusp of matching his own record of ten consecutive Grand Prix victories. Yet brake failure thwarted the world champion handing victory instead to Carlos Sainz of Ferrari.

Despite winning seven of the first ten rounds last year, there were early signs that McLaren were hot on the heels of the world champions. A stunning pole position in Imola for Max made all the difference at the Emilia-Romagne Grand Prix, as the quicker Norris failed to make an overtake on the narrow and twisty track.

 

 

 

Red Bull dominence undermined

The McLaren driver claimed his maiden F1 victory in Miami, although with a little help from a late in the day safety car. Yet by now it was clear that Red Bull were no longer leading the field as in Monaco the RB20 looked impossible to drive as its stiff suspension bounced the car from kerb to kerb.

Yet the real story was that Red Bull were missing a trick with their car development and the advantage of 2023 had now completely disappeared. However, Ferrari too had been caught in a similar development dilemma which saw McLaren and Mercedes dominate the European season following Verstappen’s final victory for ten races in Spain.

The saga of the flexi-wing then came to the fore, with McLaren and Mercedes being accused by Red Bull and Ferrari of having an illegal amount of deflection on their wings. The FIA dithered for some time before deciding to investigate the matter properly, by fitting motion sensors and cameras to the cars come the Belgium Grand Prix.

The gains from the flexi-wings proved greater than even McLaren had hoped for as it allowed the car to be better balanced in both high speed and low speed sections of a circuit. Further, the team found tinkering with ride height less important, as the new found balance increased the window in which the car would operate effectively.

Newey: Strong words for Stroll

 

 

RBR tech director explains 

Pierre Wache admitted McLaren in one fell swoop had eliminated the advantage that Red Bull had created in the current ground effect era by creating a car which was better balanced than its rivals.

“We had some other aspect of the car which allowed us to rebalance the car,” admitted Wache to The Race. “We benefitted from this for two years. The others introduced this front wing deflection to allow them to balance the car and, in that aspect, they are now in front of us.

“We could rebalance the car by other means, while the other teams used front wing deflection. To get a different aero balance as a function of speed, you need some movement of suspension, and the softer you are the better that is. This is good for balance but maybe not for downforce.

“So their front wing allowed them to still rebalance a much stiffer suspension.”

Vasseur grants Hamilton request that Wolff refused

 

 

 

Ferrari frustrated with FIA

The significance of the flexi-wing saga was revealed in comments made by Ferrari team boss, Fred Vasseur. He intimated it was a clincher for McLaren and a set back for Ferrari, who were forced to wait for an extended period of time before the FIA gave the flexi-wings their blessing.

“I’m a bit frustrated with this, because it was clear performance, and we waited two months for the decision on if it’s legal or not. Plus you have always to keep in mind the cost cap. It means that you have to be efficient with the budget, so if you start to do a development and at the end it’s a no-go, then you burn $600,000.

“And if you burn half a million for nothing, then you can’t spend it somewhere else. For me, it was more than on the edge, the [wings] story,” said Vasseur.

Red Bull too were stymied by the FIA’s approach to the matter with Wache admitting, “[It was] more than waiting. We were trying to question them because we needed to know where to go, because our understanding was a little bit different about what was allowed.”

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FIA admit they can’t police the flex

While clearly the flexing was against the FIA regulations, the static load tests used F1’s governing body were not sufficient to expose the design genius. As FIA single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis said, its late season analysis showed nothing that set alarm bells ringing within the governing body.

“We believe that teams are much closer on these parameters than maybe they claim,” he said. “In an ideal world, we would have liked some of the tests on the front wing to be promoting stiffer designs but, because the front wing gets loaded in different ways, we cannot predict it easily in the regulations.

“No two wings have exactly the same loading pattern, so it is very difficult to come up with a proper test.n As these rules have been around since 2022, we felt it was a bit knee jerk to suddenly say: ‘OK, for ’25 we’re going to change something, or even for ’24’.

“But we are using this information we’re gathering to perhaps lead us to something a bit more effective for ’26.”

Come 2026 the FIA regulations will change to allow moveable aero parts on F1 cars for the first time since DRS was introduced. The new hybrid power units will require varying levels of downforce around a single lap, which will be facilitated by new driver operated moveable wings.

Hamilton mental fragility questioned

 

 

 

Aston Martin director promises sponsors Verstappen

ston Martin are making waves in Formula One since the acquisition of the team by Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll. Once the struggling mid-field Force India team, Stroll bought them out of receivership before renaming the Silverstone based squad after the iconic British racing marque.

A new $200m facility outside the gates Silverstone has seen the team transformed from its time spent in the old facilities first erected by Eddie Jordan. This year their state of the art wind tunnel will come on stream, in time for the development work on the all new 2026 F1 car design.

As Red Bull entered a mini crisis last year, with their team boss accused of “inappropriate behaviour” towards a female employee, the vultures circled around Max Verstappen. Stroll’s Aston Martin were one of the team’s to make representations to the Dutch F1 champion, who suggested he could leave his current F1 family should Dr. Helmet Marko depart from the Red Bull management…. READ MORE