2026 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

[lio007]

Any updates coming for the car? Ferrari seem to be having updates every 2/3 races.

The RB22 project was cancelled. It's all in on 2027.

Rightly so! Doesn't make sense to use anything from the old tunnel.

[Paa]

Any updates coming for the car? Ferrari seem to be having updates every 2/3 races.

As far as I remember, they stated during the Austrian upgrade package, that this was their big one for the season and from that time they'd only prepare some minor ones.
It is obvious they expected more from that package, so I'm not sure if that changed their plans in any way, but so far I don't see any indication about preparing anything major.
They seems lost to be honest, probably trying to find a direction.
I'm not even hopeful for 2027 as long as their issues are clearly identified and addressed. Also the new windtunnel will be operational only from next year so even the next car is developed in the old one.

[Rikhart]

Any updates coming for the car? Ferrari seem to be having updates every 2/3 races.

As far as I remember, they stated during the Austrian upgrade package, that this was their big one for the season and from that time they'd only prepare some minor ones.
It is obvious they expected more from that package, so I'm not sure if that changed their plans in any way, but so far I don't see any indication about preparing anything major.
They seems lost to be honest, probably trying to find a direction.
I'm not even hopeful for 2027 as long as their issues are clearly identified and addressed. Also the new windtunnel will be operational only from next year so even the next car is developed in the old one.

All this is why I consider Max's decision to re-sign so weird.

[Badger]

I seem to recall that you can only nominate one wind tunnel for every 12 month period, which begs the question if RBR could get "stuck" with their old WT for next season too since it's said to be coming online in early 2027? But it seems to me like there's an exception which may allow them to switch as soon as the new tunnel is ready. Here's what it says in the rules

RWTT may only be carried out in wind tunnels which have been nominated by the F1 Team to the FIA. Each F1 Team may nominate only one wind tunnel for use in any one twelve-month period and declare it in writing to the FIA.

The FIA will consider, at its absolute discretion, earlier or temporary nominations if a wind tunnel already nominated by a F1 Team suffers a long term failure or for the purpose of evaluating alternative wind tunnels. If a different facility is to be used or if the existing facility is changed or upgraded, other than for routine maintenance or replacement, then a new declaration must be submitted to the FIA within one month of the change or at the time of submission of a testing period report whichever is earlier.

[lio007]

I seem to recall that you can only nominate one wind tunnel for every 12 month period, which begs the question if RBR could get "stuck" with their old WT for next season too since it's said to be coming online in early 2027? But it seems to me like there's an exception which may allow them to switch as soon as the new tunnel is ready. Here's what it says in the rules

RWTT may only be carried out in wind tunnels which have been nominated by the F1 Team to the FIA. Each F1 Team may nominate only one wind tunnel for use in any one twelve-month period and declare it in writing to the FIA.

The FIA will consider, at its absolute discretion, earlier or temporary nominations if a wind tunnel already nominated by a F1 Team suffers a long term failure or for the purpose of evaluating alternative wind tunnels. If a different facility is to be used or if the existing facility is changed or upgraded, other than for routine maintenance or replacement, then a new declaration must be submitted to the FIA within one month of the change or at the time of submission of a testing period report whichever is earlier.

AM managed to switch mid-season to their new tunnel.

[Rikhart]

Interesting analysis of the relative power of the power units:

https://x.com/FDataAnalysis/status/2095 ... 78287?s=20

[AR3-GP]

Interesting analysis of the relative power of the power units:

https://x.com/FDataAnalysis/status/2095 ... 78287?s=20

Both Honda and Ferrari have referenced the Mercedes ICE when speaking of their power deficits. No one mentions Red Bull. The FIA's reputation for "performance analysis" is the WEC Balance-of-Performance (a catastrophe), and this fabricated ADUO result.

Many are wanting to work backwards from the FIA's communications. It requires you to designate the FIA as a source of truth. The organization that is responsible for the performance measurements has no credibility. They have demonstrated that for years in the world endurance championship.

[KimiRai]

I seem to recall that you can only nominate one wind tunnel for every 12 month period, which begs the question if RBR could get "stuck" with their old WT for next season too since it's said to be coming online in early 2027? But it seems to me like there's an exception which may allow them to switch as soon as the new tunnel is ready. Here's what it says in the rules

RWTT may only be carried out in wind tunnels which have been nominated by the F1 Team to the FIA. Each F1 Team may nominate only one wind tunnel for use in any one twelve-month period and declare it in writing to the FIA.

The FIA will consider, at its absolute discretion, earlier or temporary nominations if a wind tunnel already nominated by a F1 Team suffers a long term failure or for the purpose of evaluating alternative wind tunnels. If a different facility is to be used or if the existing facility is changed or upgraded, other than for routine maintenance or replacement, then a new declaration must be submitted to the FIA within one month of the change or at the time of submission of a testing period report whichever is earlier.

AM managed to switch mid-season to their new tunnel.

Yes but according to Newey correlation was not good until 9 months later. It usually takes about a year more or less to fully correlate a new wind tunnel.

[lio007]

I seem to recall that you can only nominate one wind tunnel for every 12 month period, which begs the question if RBR could get "stuck" with their old WT for next season too since it's said to be coming online in early 2027? But it seems to me like there's an exception which may allow them to switch as soon as the new tunnel is ready. Here's what it says in the rules

AM managed to switch mid-season to their new tunnel.

Yes but according to Newey correlation was not good until 9 months later. It usually takes about a year more or less to fully correlate a new wind tunnel.

Since Ian Greig joined from AM, he will know a thing or two what needed refinement in the new AM-tunnel. Maybe his knowledge can fast track the progress at RBR.

[Valeo]

[AR3-GP]

Yes but according to Newey correlation was not good until 9 months later. It usually takes about a year more or less to fully correlate a new wind tunnel.

Yes but that's over at Aston Martin where Adrian Newey has hinted several times that he's not impressed with the people there. Many have been sacked by now.

Mclaren achieved correlation right away. FYI, Red Bull contracted the same developer that did the Mclaren windtunnel. This is not the one that Aston used. Red Bull will have a Mclaren replica. In any case, it will still come down to people knowing how to use a tool. So there's always that variable. We can't predict competence. The regulations allow you to do correlation work before you designate the new facility, so in theory that is what they are doing now. Then they will officially retire the WWII tunnel next year.

https://racer.com/2023/09/08/mclaren-ge ... ind-tunnel

McLaren had been using the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany, but built its own state of the art tunnel at its Woking, UK headquarters that came online this summer. Stella says the transition between the two facilities has been almost seamless and the significant benefits are already being felt.

“We started working and developing the 2024 car in the new wind tunnel,” Stella said. “This process has been very smooth, to be honest. We were ready to face some anomalies and scratch our heads, but in reality there has been really good continuity between the work we were doing at Toyota and the work we are doing at the MTC wind tunnel, obviously with a massive advantage from a logistical point of view and from a financial savings point of view.”

[AR3-GP]

and Red Bull's current windtunnel is not ideal. It's been explained before, but half of Red Bull's wind tunnel section is sitting outside under the elements. That means the recirculation part of the tunnel absorbs heat from the sun and it cools when it's cold outside. They have to use a heat exchanger inside the tunnel loop to fight mother nature during the summer and winter. It's normal to have this heat exchanger inside the windtunnel, but the difference between a tunnel that is sitting inside and one that is partially outdoors is that it takes longer to stabilize the conditions. Sometimes you just have to wait or you can't use the tunnel at all if it's too hot outside. The heat waves in the UK this year would have made things difficult.

The new wind tunnel is effectively being put inside of a climate-controlled box. So the building HVAC does most all of the work to condition the outside of the windtunnel 24/7. Then there is minimal conditioning required inside the actual windtunnel loop when they arrive to test. There will never be a time that they cannot test.

[KimiRai]

I think McLaren's case was more of a refurbishment rather than a completely new one, don't quote me on that though. Thanks a lot for all the info.

[Nicktendo86]

I think McLaren's case was more of a refurbishment rather than a completely new one, don't quote me on that though. Thanks a lot for all the info.

The tunnel is completely new but they say refurb rather than new build as the actual building itself inside is the same as the old one

[AR3-GP]

I think McLaren's case was more of a refurbishment rather than a completely new one, don't quote me on that though. Thanks a lot for all the info.

All good. As suggested by nicktendo, I believe the only thing that didn't change was the building itself. The tunnel section is new. The developer also did the Toyota tunnel which is probably why Mclaren went with them. In theory that might also be why Mclaren didn't experience any correlation issues...Red Bull would be making a larger change from old to new.

Mclaren: https://www.sbi-online.de/en/projects/a ... lopment-2/
Red Bull: https://www.sbi-online.de/en/projects/a ... velopment/

They don't actually state who the customers were, but they say it was in "England" and the date tracks with the public confirmations at the time. Also, in Red Bull's case, there are some photos of the factory on social media and you will find this company's branding in them.