As with most of the other teams on the grid this year, Red Bull Racing’s RB9 is an evolutionary car. With no big changes for the upcoming F1 season, there hasn’t been much scope for revolutionary design. Adrian Newey has said that significant changes are not the regulations but the new Pirelli tyres the teams tested in Brazil last November. Newey also said that it was very hot and on the green track, they couldn’t learn much.
Newey has also said that he is open to the idea of a passive DRS system as long as the system is reliable and is able to avoid being triggered when following another car. Passive DRS systems as employed by Lotus on their E21, are completely different from the double DRS or active DRS system (remember the F-Duct?) that we’ve seen on the Mercedes AMG Petronas cars last year. While the Mercedes setup was actively controlled by the driver when activating the rear wing DRS, Lotus’ system works on all straights and corners without driver intervention and is activated and deactivated based on the airspeed over the car.
Newey has pointed out that understanding the tyres was the key to the championship this year, just as it was last year. “We need to continue to understand the tyres,” he said. “Every time we thought we understood them last year, some fresh surprise would come in and we’d realise it wasn’t complete. And they’ve changed the tyre anyway this year. Past experience is that it’s only when we get out testing that we really find out about the tyres.”
The driver lineup remains unchanged for the team that will have to fight to defend its title win.
Red Bull Racing also has a cool video showing the work that goes on at the Red Bull Racing Team factory in Milton Keynes, England. A must watch for anybody who all stuff mechanical.