Is Red Bull’s outdated wind tunnel hurting performance? Helmut Marko: “It’s a relic from the 1940s”. Helmut Marko reveals that Red Bull's wind tunnel may be behind recent car performance issues.

Spotlight on Red Bull F1
Red Bull is once again at the center of attention in the world of Formula 1. Not so much for results and performance, which in the last few Grands Prix—except for Suzuka—have fallen short of expectations, but more so for the controversial and criticized swap between Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson, who was dropped after not even two races alongside Max Verstappen. The move has been widely attributed to Helmut Marko, the mastermind who has run the Junior Team for 20 years and orchestrates driver movements between Milton Keynes and Faenza.

Helmut Marko and the wind tunnel revelation
In a lengthy interview with Kleine Zeitung, the Austrian also revealed a surprising detail about Red Bull’s wind tunnel, which he described as outdated and potentially the cause of recent aerodynamic update failures:
“Our current wind tunnel is a relic from the 1940s, built by the military. Even though it has been modified several times, it still has the disadvantage of being very long and having exposed concrete ducts. When it’s cold or hot outside, it’s hard to reach the necessary temperatures. A new facility is under construction and is expected to be completed by 2026. Last year we had some confusion due to discrepancies between wind tunnel data and track data, so we worked on it. But we still don’t know exactly where the correlation issue lies.”

Max Verstappen’s frustration
This problem with the inefficiency of the current Red Bull wind tunnel helps explain why the car has been so difficult to drive. It also explains why Max Verstappen, whom Helmut Marko mentors, was reportedly disappointed with the decision to replace Liam Lawson with Yuki Tsunoda—a disappointment made clear by his like on a critical post by Giedo Van Der Garde: “Max didn’t agree with the decision because he kept saying the problem lies with the car, which is very difficult to drive. That’s his opinion, and it’s a valid one. But our goal is the fifth world championship title, and for that, we need a second driver who is strategically positioned in the group, who can contribute and take points away from others. You can’t become world champions if Red Bull races with only one driver.” – he concluded ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekend.