Dangerous Correlations
For some time, Red Bull has admitted to encountering discrepancies between what they observe in their factory using CFD and the wind tunnel, and the data collected on the track. These challenges are believed to be the root cause of the Austrian team’s recent competitiveness problems, with Helmut Marko — unsurprisingly — being blunt: “Our wind tunnel dates back to shortly after World War II. This comes with disadvantages, such as taking a long time to increase temperatures because it’s outdated. I hope the new one will be operational by 2026.” – the Red Bull advisor pointed out.
What’s Not Working?
In recent weeks, all the key figures at Red Bull, from team principal Christian Horner to advisor Helmut Marko, and technical director Pierre Waché, have vaguely spoken about the old wind tunnel, without specifying the main issue with the structure, which has become crucial in the current F1 era without on-track testing.
An actual hint, or rather a direct answer, came from Williams team principal James Vowles: “Red Bull is ahead of us, but they have a very old wind tunnel that can only be operated within a certain temperature window.” – he explained.
James Vowles then continued discussing his own wind tunnel, which will be upgraded: “You wouldn’t notice the difference between the Mercedes wind tunnel and ours, although they are superior in CFD. We’re not in such bad shape,” – the Williams team boss explained in his recent interview for the German magazine Auto, Motor und Sport.
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