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With BWT as the team's new title sponsor, Alpine today launched their 2022 Formula One campaign by unveiling the A522 at Paris. The team immediately revealed not one, but two different liveries that will be used.
Red Bull's Christian Horner has explained why the team will never build an RB17, with next year's car confirmed as being named the RB18.
With the 2021 car called the RB16B, this means that the team will skip a number in their nomenclature for the first time in their history, dating back to the RB1 in 2005.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with RacingNews365.com, Horner said the reason for this is because the 2021 car is essentially the same design that the team used in 2020, given the stable rules due to emergency measures brought in by F1 and the FIA amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
"[Regarding] 17, we felt that 16B is essentially the same chassis," Horner explained.
"And there was so much carryover, we felt that it was more of a B car than warranted its own number.
"And then, obviously, we wanted to remain in sync with the amount of seasons that Red Bull have been in Formula 1, so that was why 17 will never exist.
"After the carryover, I thought it made more sense to call it a B car."
With an annual budget cap in place for the first time in Formula 1 in 2021, Red Bull's increased competitiveness means that they are currently in the middle of trying to balance development of the RB16B as well as prepare as well as possible for the RB18, with vastly different regulations incoming for next season.
Horner maintains that the work is on target, praising Red Bull's staff for the job they're doing.
"I want to think that we're managing to balance the two projects pretty well," he said.
"Adrian [Newey, Chief Technical Officer] moved on to 2022 very early, for him. You're just trying to balance the resource so people are working long hours at the moment, as we've tried to eke every bit of performance we can out of a 16B, but nobody underestimates the challenge of RB18.
"So we've got a very motivated workforce. They're working wonders at the moment."
Which '18' cars did he design? I looked through the years and couldn't find a car with '18' in the name.
https://www.racecar-engineering.com/art ... ian-newey/Newey finished university with a first class honours degree, having written thesis on ground-effect aerodynamics.
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Red Bull is on schedule with the RB18. "At least I wasn't given any information to the contrary," says Marko, giving the all-clear. Although no one really knows whether the targets set are actually sufficient. Because the new car was created on a blank sheet of paper for everyone.
Question marks over engines
Work is being done tirelessly in Milton Keynes. The rules revolution demands maximum commitment. The World Championship and the mission to defend the title are the motivation for the workforce. Only the drivers and management can rest. "Work is done around the clock. The English are not such holiday people. They only know Boxing Day." In England, that's December 26. Because that fell on a Sunday in 2021, Monday was also a holiday.
A question mark hovers not only over the completely redesigned cars, but also the engines. The switch from E5 to E10 gasoline is accompanied by a loss of performance. Ten percent of the fuel will come from biological waste from 2022. The talk is that this will mean a loss of 20 horsepower or even a bit more. That's something all manufacturers are struggling with. "Honda is working massively to adapt. What I hear is positive. But the performance is not yet the same as 2021, but you'll generally have to wait and see how it looks in race trim."
Honda, while officially out of Formula One, is building the engine for the upcoming season and is responsible for production, assembly and maintenance - a service for a fee. And from what we hear in Formula One circles, the umbilical cord to Japan could continue beyond 2022.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
it was not E5
Do you really think they developed the RB16B until Sep-Oct? The only things I could spot have been track-specific cooling- and wing-specs, like as on many other teams' cars.mclaren_mircea wrote: ↑06 Jan 2022, 15:54Despite the fact that surely Newey its a specialst on this ground effect regs, he surely cant compensate the fact that Red Bull spent to much on the 2021 car. It was visible on the amount of aero upgrades on the car until late in the season. I just cant understand how was posible for Mercedes to keep up with them in performance despite the big difference in aero update-packages. The 2022 car surely is affected by so many hours used in the wind tunnel and CFD. After the Vettel era they insisted so much for this Verstappen title. I expect them to by off the pace.. not just after Ferrari and Mercedes but even after Alpine, Mclaren and Aston Martin. They will recover during the season but will be too late for the 2022 championship. If they have the fastest car in 2022 with the huge amount of resources allocated to the 2021, than hats off to Adrian Newey. What can Binotto, Mike Elliot and James Kay say if they are beaten by Newey who developed the 2021 car until september-october??? It is againts all the odds and common sense.