A brutal attack from Ben Hodgkinson, Red Bull’s Power Unit director in Formula 1: “Anyone who doesn’t understand certain things is not a real engineer.”
Red Bull Power Unit director Ben Hodgkinson has launched a scathing response to the rumors that have stirred controversy in the Formula 1 paddock over recent weeks. While the outcome of the meeting between the teams and the FIA is still awaited, there is a clear sense of calm coming from Milton Keynes. The Austrian team, which has been mentioned alongside Mercedes in accusations of potential illegality, is firmly convinced that it is on the right side of the regulations.
Just days before the Barcelona tests, the paddock is split. On one side are Mercedes and Red Bull, accused of having found a way to bypass the new compression ratio limit on their power units. On the other are Ferrari, Audi and Honda, all calling loudly for clarification. The final word will rest with the FIA, although it seems unlikely that the governing body will take decisive action already ahead of the upcoming season.
The issue is a complex one. The new engines have been under development for several years, based on technical regulations that Honda executives themselves have described as “open to multiple interpretations.” Closing this grey area would mean forcing teams to introduce changes that would be extremely difficult to implement in the short term. Moreover, the actual illegality of the cars produced in Brackley and Milton Keynes has yet to be proven.
Hodgkinson: “Materials change with temperature, everyone knows that”
Strongly reaffirming the legality of the Red Bull–Ford power unit is Ben Hodgkinson himself, the man leading the project. The British engineer argues that the rumors are nothing more than a move by Mercedes to boost its own appeal after several disappointing seasons. The Milton Keynes technical director then goes even further, pointing the finger at engineers who, in his view, “don’t understand” the fundamentals of the issue.
“This whole situation is frustrating for me, as an engineer,” Hodgkinson said on the sidelines of the RB22 livery presentation. “I know what we are doing and I am convinced it is legal. Obviously, we have pushed things to the absolute limit of what the regulations allow. I would be surprised if everyone else hadn’t done the same.”
“Any engineer who doesn’t understand the concept of thermal expansion doesn’t belong in this sport, and in fact doesn’t even deserve to be called an engineer,” he continued. “Understanding how materials behave at different temperatures, pressures, stresses and loads is literally our job.”
“The regulations are super, super clear on the compression ratio,” Hodgkinson added. “There is a limit of 16:1. The regulations specify that this ratio must be measured in a very precise way. There is a document that describes exactly how the measurement is carried out, and it must be done at ambient temperature. So everything is extremely clear.”
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