Horner needs to remember he, now, has no other recourse wrt engines.
So it turns out Newey had a bicycle accident and couldn't get to work for 4 months (!!). He only now returned to work and has apparently identified a problem with the set up of the car...if true and an easy fix, can it swing the championship to max???
4 months?! They should have wheeled him in to work, bed and all if necessary, if he’s the only one who could solve the set-up issue!!
He can assess data from anywhere. This sounds like a non issue. A setup issue would not be the only issue to overcome. They have added many updates which all must synch. If they have issues it’s not only setup. Tires have evolved + aero etc. Anything serious would be difficult to know unless it’s leaked. There is nothing in decent F1 press about a major setup issue or anything else. Sometimes at a certain point you are just slower or is it Mercedes have solved an issue that hold them back????
Max has been complaining about the setup at quite a few races since the Hungarian GP at least. We don't know what Newey's injuries where, if he had a head injury, he probably couldn't view anything at all.
Certainly true. I did some search and found nothing. I think anything of note is in house with a team. Did anyone say how badly he was injured or a place where this occurs?
ok this is today dated - https://www.planetf1.com/news/adrian-newey-bike-crash-injury/ So many cyclist accidents lately of well known people. Surprised nothing on BBC or SKY F1.....
Checo Perez in Dallas today. Tweet— Twitter API (@user) date Sergio Perez walks right by Me at Redbull Dallas Event - SPECIAL VIDEO Sergio “CHECO” Perez Redbull showrun Dallas Texas
No Honda engine IP for Red Bull in 2026 Image Unavailable, Please Login Oct.19 (GMM) Red Bull will not be able to use Honda’s engine IP to design a new power unit for the 2026 regulations. It emerged recently that, despite Honda’s official departure from Formula 1 at the end of this season, the Japanese manufacturer and Red Bull will continue to collaborate for the new ‘Red Bull Powertrains’ project going forwards. But when 2026 and the new F1 rules arrive, that will have to stop. “That’s right, they can’t use it,” said Masashi Yamamoto, Honda’s F1 boss, when asked about Red Bull’s use of the IP for 2026 and beyond. But next year and until the end of 2025, Red Bull does have permission to use the Honda IP. “It has to be like that,” Yamamoto explained. “To assemble, maintain and buy parts for the engines themselves, they need that information.” It is believed Honda is enforcing the ‘hard stop’ to Red Bull’s use of the IP for 2026 because of speculation the team may link up with Volkswagen. Yamamoto, however, said the risk that Honda IP will bleed over into a VW brand’s F1 engine is low. https://www.newsonf1.com/2021/10/no-honda-engine-ip-for-red-bull-in-2026/
Post BrazilGP 2021 AMuS Michael Schmidt about the Mercedes rear wing (flexi wing) theory (by Red Bull) Image Unavailable, Please Login https://www-auto--motor--und--sport-de.translate.goog/formel-1/f1-video-talk-formel-schmidt-gp-brasilien-2021/?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=nui,sc
Lol that's hilarious. F1 has become a joke. The current cars sound like crap they have to use the RB7 n/a V8 from a decade ago to put on a show. And fake tire changes, too...nice.
Horner - PLEASE PROTEST - and SHUT UP - If you had proof YOU WOULD HAVE ALREADY DONE IT. You noticed since Budapest and still whining, I see the problem you are still hurt you WERE CAUGHT earlier lol. New wing and tests after you were caught lol. https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/horner-red-bull-ready-to-protest-mercedes-f1-rear-wing/6798701/ Horner: Red Bull ready to protest Mercedes F1 rear wing By: Adam Cooper Nov 19, 2021, 8:57 AM Red Bull Formula 1 team boss Christian Horner says his team will lodge a protest over the final races of the season if it believes that Mercedes' car is illegal. Image Unavailable, Please Login Horner has reiterated his suspicions that Mercedes may have gained straightline performance through the use of a trick rear wing. In a tense FIA press conference that featured Horner sitting alongside his Mercedes opposite number Toto Wolff, Horner also referenced “score marks” that Red Bull has observed on the rear wing endplate of the W12, implying that it moved illegally. Horner suggested over the recent Sao Paulo GP weekend that Mercedes had an unusually large straightline speed advantage, one that had helped Lewis Hamilton to recover from his grid penalties to win the race. He also suggested that Red Bull is more concerned about the two final races of the season in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi, where low drag and outright straightline performance are more significant. “Would I protest?,” said Horner. “Yeah, absolutely. If we believe the car is not in compliance, we will protest. The straight line speeds that we've seen in Mexico and in Brazil, I mean, I think everybody could see Brazil was not a normal situation. “And yes, a new engine we know with Mercedes comes with increased performance. But when you have a 27 kilometre [per hour] difference, and you see marks on rear end plates that have been marking up from wings that have been flexing… “It's very clear to us what has been going on. So, of course, that's why I refer it's down the FIA to make sure that the cars are in compliance. If they're not, you protest if you believe that a competitor isn't complying with the rules.” Horner told Sky F1 that "if we see [the wing] on the car here, it will be protested." Later Horner added: “We'll follow the situation. It will depend on really what happens this weekend. “So what we see and the analysis that we've conducted, it really depends what we see. It's not just applied to here, because I think in many respects it's even more pertinent to the two circuits that are coming up. “I'm sure Mercedes [have] paid a huge amount of attention to our car through the season, and we are obviously doing the same. And obviously, it's high stakes, there's an awful lot to play for. And as I said, we just want to make sure it's an equal playing field.” Image Unavailable, Please Login Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes W12 Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images Asked about the legality of the W12, Wolff insisted that he was not concerned. “I think I've always said that,” said the Austrian. “That is how you fight, you're trying to avoid that a competitor has an advantage. If you're led by scepticism, because someone told you something, and you expect that to be the root cause, you should go for it. “I think we've been controlled 14 times on this very particular wing, the FIA has all drawings about it. There is no such thing as Red Bull expects there to be. So we are happy to send it, cut it, we can send you one to Milton Keynes.” Horner then spoke directly to Wolff, saying: "So how do you explain the score marks on the rear wing endplate?” “I think it's within what is allowed,” Wolff replied. “And, therefore, that's okay.” The discussion had already become heated as the subject of potentially illegality came up. “I think that nobody would show up at the track with an illegal engine or an illegal rear wing,” said Wolff. “The world is too transparent for that. And you would be mad if you take decisions in a team with such a high visibility that are illegal, 100%.” “Does our car comply with the rules?,” said Horner. “Absolutely. Do we have concerns over the gains in straight line speed [at Mercedes] that we've seen since Budapest? But really, they've been exponential in the last couple of races, absolutely. “Do we expect the FIA as the scrutineer and the policeman of the sport to ensure that all the cars are compliant? The rules are a complex set of regulations. So we rely very, very heavily on the FIA to ensure that it's absolutely scrupulously fair. “Because what we absolutely want going into these last few races is a fair fight, whoever comes out at the end of this on top, it shouldn't be in a stewards room, it shouldn't be in a court of appeal, it needs to be done on track. Image Unavailable, Please Login Christian Horner, Team Principal, Red Bull Racing spaks to the media Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images “And we just want to ensure that going into these last few races, that these cars are being scrupulously policed and are in full compliance, because there's too much at stake. “Quite simply you've got two teams and two drivers that are fighting for the biggest prize in sport, the stakes are incredibly high. And you just want to make sure that the playing field is level." Wolff also confirmed that the contentious rear wing that led to Lewis Hamilton’s disqualification from qualifying at Interlagos had been returned to Mercedes and examined. “We got the rear wing back,” he said. “And as we thought it was broken, it broke in qualifying, we didn't pass the 85mm slot gap test on the far right side, we passed it on the left, in the middle, but not on the right, by a fraction of a millimetre. And that's fine. “We weren't allowed to inspect it, nor to make the argument that the part is being broken. And consequently, we found out that two screws became undone in qualifying. And that caused that right side to be irregular. “And you know, probably it was even detrimental to the lap time, but it is what it is. It was reported to the stewards, that is very different to how these things were handled in the past, but you will be able to patch up things that got broken during parc ferme. “But now we've moved on, it's race, gone, we obviously were able to turn it around. I wish that Lewis could have taken more points from the sprint qualifying. But that is the past."
--From Shovlin at Mercedes - https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/the-mercedes-rear-wing-marks-behind-red-bulls-suspicions/6799537/ Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes head of trackside engineering, quickly hit back whilst being quizzed on the subject: "We've had a look at it and there are no score marks, so we're not quite sure what that is, but it seems to be a bit of a story that's not going away," Shovlin told Sky Sports F1. "From our point of view, we're absolutely happy with what we've got on the car. We've invited the FIA to look at it as much as they want. "They don't have any issue with what we've got and we go to every circuit, we look at what the fastest wing we have is, and that's the one that we'll bolt to the car and that's what we'll keep doing. "We'll work out what's fastest, we'll stick it on the car and will not take advice from another team."-- Whining-bull are good at keeping a story in the press lol. Hurts when it was Mercedes who actually had valid complaint and forced to change wings and suffer new FIA tests lol!
AMuS Red Bull Powertrains is growing. So far, the engine department has hired 170 employees. 45 come from Mercedes. The company is set up flexible: They can do everything on their own or enter a joint-venture with another manufacturer - like Porsche. https://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/formel-1/red-bull-motoren-fabrik-f1/
RB7 demo model at Cape Town Africa. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/the-photos-that-offer-clues-to-red-bulls-rear-wing-problems/6840341/ The photos that offer clues to Red Bull's rear wing problems By: Matt Somerfield Dec 2, 2021, 6:31 AM Red Bull heads into this weekend’s Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix hoping to have solved the rear wing problems that have plagued it in recent F1 events. Image Unavailable, Please Login The issues faced by Red Bull began to reveal themselves at the United States Grand Prix, as the team was forced to make repairs to the rear wing’s mainplane during final free practice. The repairs were largely believed to be caused by the bumpy circuit at COTA, with hairline cracks appearing that the team felt they needed to repair ahead of qualifying. An interesting note to make is the team had opted for its medium downforce rear wing, whereas in 2019, the last time we raced at COTA, it went for its high downforce configuration. Meanwhile, the rest of the grid, including closest rival Mercedes trended towards higher downforce packages. Downforce packages Red Bull has experimented a lot with switching between its downforce configurations, obviously mindful of Mercedes’ straightline speed advantage. Even in Mexico, Red Bull clearly went with question marks over which aerodynamic configuration would suit it best, as it trialled the medium downforce rear wing on Perez’s car during first free practice. Unfortunately the Mexican lost control of his RB16B exiting the final corner and hit the barrier, destroying one of the wings in the team’s available pool. It’s worth pointing out that teams don’t have an infinite supply of parts on hand, although they do have ‘spare’ parts to cover damage that might occur. However, with such a tight schedule, including the Mexico, Brazil and Qatar triple-header, the team knew that parts would be at a premium. The team completed the rest of the weekend in Mexico with its high downforce rear wing, but this didn’t come without its own drama either, as the team was forced to make running repairs ahead of qualifying once more. This time the team was required to fix the outer section of the top flap and the louvred section of the endplate, as both were showing signs of fatigue. Problems persisted for Red Bull in Brazil, but it looked like the team had taken note of the issues faced in Mexico, with the louvred section of the wing appearing to feature a similar hotfix and repainted in a black finish, rather than red like the rest of the lower portion of the endplate. However, it appeared that the fixes made to the mainplane and endplates were beginning to take their toll, as during qualifying it was noted that the rear wing's top flap on Verstappen’s car was oscillating at the end of the pitstraight whilst DRS was deployed. As a consequence, the team replaced both the rear wing upper flap and the flap snubber for like-for-like components under parc ferme conditions. Image Unavailable, Please Login Red Bull Racing RB16B rear wing detail Photo by: Uncredited It wouldn’t be the last time we’d see them have this issue, as it reared its head once more in Qatar, just a week later. Having tested both the high and low downforce packages on Friday in Qatar, the team had preferred the medium downforce package for the race. However, even after several attempts to fix the wing, the DRS actuator, linkages and pivots, the team couldn’t find a way to prevent the unwanted oscillations when the DRS was active. It’s important to note that the oscillations do not provide a performance advantage but, given the disputes that have arisen in regard to rear wing performance this season, it’s likely that should it occur under race conditions a protest could be in the cards for it being a moveable aerodynamic device. Furthermore, risking a DNF at this stage in the season would be pivotal in the championship battle and to be avoided at all costs. Image Unavailable, Please Login Red Bull Racing RB16B DRS actuator and linkage Photo by: Giorgio Piola Higher speed challenges The team has not commented extensively on the cause of the issues it is facing, nor explained whether it’s an issue caused by the team only having two specifications of DRS actuator and linkages at its disposal this season, due to the homologation system that has in-turn created issues with the integrity of the wings. It could also be related to the number of rear wing assemblies available during this phase of the season that are unable to sustain the loads imparted on them. In respect of the latter, it’s interesting, as the tracks visited at the back end of the season have higher speed trap figures across the board than the opening four races where Red Bull used its medium downforce rear wing. For example, qualifying trap figures for Verstappen in Bahrain, Imola, Portimao and Barcelona were 313.6, 291.8, 314.4 and 313kph respectively. Whereas, Istanbul Park, COTA and Interlagos were 322, 318.3 and 318.3kph respectively. The trap figures vary for the race but tend to trend higher due to the ability to grab the combination of a tow and DRS from a car that’s being lapped. Image Unavailable, Please Login Red Bull Racing RB16B flexi rear wing Photo by: Giorgio Piola The intriguing question this poses, is what role, if any, did the toughening up of the load and deflection tests play in the design resilience of Red Bull’s wings to these higher speed tracks? After all, a rear wing that was designed to flex rearward over a certain speed will see more load than that one that was originally intended due to the angle of incidence. The new tests came into force for the French Grand Prix but, with the caveat of a 20% margin for error for the first month of their introduction, which in real terms meant that teams didn’t need to fully comply until the British Grand Prix, with the medium downforce wing used at both events held at the Red Bull Ring. In the time between the race at Silverstone and their issues at COTA, Red Bull raced the medium downforce rear wing four times and the high downforce package only featured during free practice sessions where the team evaluated its options. Of these occasions, only one race really stood out in terms of being representative to the top speeds it would encounter in the latter races - Turkey. The others, including the Hungarian Grand Prix, which is normally considered a high downforce track and makes its choice seem odd, still saw it behind the Mercedes in the speed trap in qualifying. Only Perez ran the medium downforce package in Russia, as Verstappen was starting from the back with a new power unit, so it was felt he’d make better progress with the low downforce package. Meanwhile, top speed was also lower for the Dutch GP, owing to the circuit layout. But this didn’t prevent a foreshadowing of its issues to arise as, during Verstappen’s qualifying run, his DRS actuator failed, resulting in him not being able to use DRS out of the last corner. Even so his time was still enough for him to take pole position. Image Unavailable, Please Login Red Bull Racing RB16B rear wing detail Photo by: Uncredited Endplate influence Returning to the symptoms that have resulted in the running repairs and oscillating top flap, we can see in this image that Red Bull’s endplate is making a bid for freedom in relation to the position of the flap when it’s loaded. To better understand what’s at play here we must realise that all of the teams approach the design of this area of the endplate differently. Teams reduce the thickness of the endplate in the region around the mainplane and top flap in order that they might create a set of wing fillet profiles that stay within the bounds of the endplate’s allowable thickness. Stealing real estate from the endplate to create these additional profiles helps improve the efficiency of the wing and softens the pressure gradient that would otherwise be created between the two surfaces interacting with one another. As always, each team does so in a unique way, with Red Bull opting to simply have its profiles jut out from the endplate and leave a clearance gap to the slot gap separator housed on the end of the top flap. Mercedes sacrifices a slither of the fillet profiles width to box them in with another endplate that butts up to the slot gap separator. Meanwhile, Alpine has a solution somewhere in between the two, with a small joint connecting each profile to maintain their proximity to one another (red arrow). Image Unavailable, Please Login Red Bull Racing RB16B rear wing detail Photo by: Uncredited Coupling this lack of rigidity in the overall structure of Red Bull’s wing with the high speed nature of the venues visited over the course of the last few races could answer at least part of the reason as to why it has been struggling with its wings as of late. But, there is one last aspect of this design that Red Bull use that could be causing some of its issues - the endplate twisting when DRS is deployed. As we’ve already seen in the image from Brazil, the endplate appears to be flexing, which opens the gap between it and the top flap more than in the rest position, whilst the second most profile appears to be angled away from the flap further still. If we use this knowledge and look at an image from Hungary with the DRS open we can see that the lower profile is twisted here too, suggesting that when the DRS flap closes it might do so in a way that fouls the profiles and results in the damaged caused to the flap, the pivots and the DRS mechanism. Image Unavailable, Please Login Red Bull Racing RB16B rear wing detail Photo by: Uncredited The two remaining races are being held at venues that would ordinarily require teams to use their medium downforce packages, which puts Red Bull in quite the quandary. The question is, will it continue to use the parts it has over the last few grands prix and fix them as they go, or will it arrive with new parts that are similar in design but a little more robust in order to stand up to the forces at hand? Could there even be an all-new design? The research, design and production of new parts at the end of this season might also be more than it is able to handle, given the cost cap and share of resources needed to develop its car for 2022.
How an awful F1 project went on to win a championship - YouTube Great synopsis how Honda became WDC winning engine.
Honda still ‘working massively’ on RB18 performance Date published: January 6 2022 - Mark Scott https://www.planetf1.com/news/honda-still-working-massively-on-rb18-performance/
