F1 Rumour: Red Bull Exploits Loophole To Gain More Wind Tunnel Time

This comes as no surprise after the number of upgrades Red Bull has been bringing this season.

In a somewhat surprising move, Red Bull showed up to the Hungarian Grand Prix with an new concept for their sidepods. It's an intriguing development since, throughout this season, the team's use of wind tunnels and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has been minimal due to their punishment incurred from exceeding the cost cap in 2021. Now, rumours are swirling that the team has actually used a loop hole to gain more wind tunnel time. 

Emerging as champions in the 2022 constructors' championship meant that Red Bull Racing had the lowest wind tunnel access - just 70% of the total allotted time - compared to all other teams, limiting the scope for possible upgrades. Additionally, overstepping their budget cap in 2021 landed the Austrian team a further 10% reduction in their wind tunnel time, bringing their total to only 63%,

Despite these handicaps, the constructor leader continues to introduce upgrades, leaving their rivals scratching their heads. A burning question in everyone's mind is how did Red Bull manage to pull off a substantial update to their sidepods for the Hungarian race? 

Sam Collins, a commentator for F1TV, shares the insight that Adrian Newey's team may have cleverly maneuvered through an overlooked aspect of the regulations.

He explains:

"What Red Bull have done here is quite interesting, because they've read the rule book and that's a really important thing to do. 

"So by changing this side pod duct, what they've also changed is everything that's underneath this side pod. All of the coolers, all of the radiators, all those heat exchangers, everything related to cooling the power unit has been changed.

"And the regulations are really interesting on this point because when you change those parts, when you develop new radiators, you develop new ducting underneath the bodywork, that does not come out of your wind tunnel or CFD testing allocation.

"You've got absolute freedom."

Continuing, Collins shed more light on the subject:

"You can spend as long as you like in the wind tunnel developing the radiators, developing the ducting to the radiators, as long as it's related to cooling the power unit." 

This implies Red Bull put in significant 'extra' wind tunnel time, albeit under certain constraints.

"They're not allowed to put any force measurement, so they can't measure how much downforce that may be generating, but they can measure the flow through the side pod, they can measure the temperature, they can measure the different air pressures throughout the side pod.

"So they can learn a huge amount about how these new side pods will be working. 

"And that's what they've been doing, that's how they've been able to introduce this dramatic upgrade to the car."

Whether you agree with this or not, this glorious sport that we love rides on the teams finding loop holes in the rulebook. Adrian Newey is a master at doing just this, and it's obviously paid of the Milton Keynes team. 

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