Not Grabbing The Bull By The Horns

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Editorial | Off On F1 | Letters | Race Features

Wednesday 7th January 2009

The cost cutting changes, the new aerodynamic rules, the return of slicks and the introduction of KERS should all benefit independent teams, according to Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.

" We have got great strength of depth in people and the infrastructure is very strong. As a non-works team we lack the depth of manufacturer research and development and analysis. With the regulation changes, that becomes irrelevant," said Horner. The Red Bull boss thinks that the enforced cost-cutting will mean that ingenuity, not money will be the key to developing a fast car.

And the fact that Red Bull are leaving it late in the day - February 9th - to launch their RB5 could well be because they think they've got something innovative that other people might copy. That must surely be the only reason for delaying the launch of the car. In the past F1 teams that have launched late have struggled to compete in the early GPs of the season.

Now that might be a problem for Ferrari, McLaren, Renault or BMW who all have drivers and teams capable of taking a world title, but if Red Bull want to battle it out with the big boys shouldn't they be ready from the get-go?

Ferrari are leading the charge of new car launches with their 2009 contender unveiled on Monday 12th January (and hitting the test track at Fiorano later the same day). Toyota will launch on Thursday 15th and if it's Friday, then it must be the McLaren MP4-24 launch. Nobody expects to see all the shiny new bits on the cars at first, but at least they can get some early running on slick tyres, work out the braking, the balances etc.

Though Horner has voiced the opinion that, "...the regulation changes create opportunities and we will be looking to punch above our weight in 2009," in Mark Webber they have one of the heaviest drivers on the grid. And one who won't be in the best physical shape when he arrives back from his enforced training lay-off.

Tech chief Adrian Newey may be an engineering genius - and during his time at McLaren will have had access to the energy recovery system they were developing - but at a time when the biggest % of an F1 car has changed, surely they need it out on the track, working out which bits come loose in 5G corners. No matter how stunning their engineering materpiece...

The achilles heel of the ultra-fast RB3 (in 2007) was that the hydraulic system would break down if the car had the slightest jolt. By leaving it so late to launch the new car they're giving themselves very little time to iron out any faults. What's more, they are heavily reliant on Renault giving them a decent engine unit. The success of sister chassis at Toro Rosso last year was proof enough that the Ferrari customer engine was in a different league to the Renault customer engine.

Only one team has bucked the trend of a poor off-season testing campaign and that was BMW in 2008. Right until the penultimate test Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld were looking at the prospect of a season spent staring at Williams and Honda rear wings. The BMW 1.08 had front-end handling problems which were finally solved on the eve of the Melbourne GP.

BMW had a lot more resources to throw at the car in what was a make or break year for Mario Theissen's team. The task was to win a race in 2008 which they did thanks to some inexpert parking from Lewis Hamilton in the pitlane at Montreal.

Red Bull now have a proven race winner on their books in the form of Sebastian Vettel. The German wunderkind scored his debut win for Toro Rosso at Monza and Christian Horner smiled gamely for the cameras, officially pleased that his fellow Red Bull-sponsored buddies had been the first to get a GP win. Now the pressure is on for them to match that. They managed their first podium way back at the Monaco Grand Prix of 2006.

With the 2008 season they have just endured, the change in the regulations couldn't come soon enough. They will have to punch above their weight in 2009.

Your Comments

trippy

"Shocking to hear the sad news about DC. I've not seen it in the press. How did it happen? :-)"

silverbow

"I think Andrew means current drivers, DC is no longer with us, and we are speaking of the coming season."

Howee

"Well, Ferrari aren't launching their new challenger next week, are they, it will be quite different to the one they intend to race with? So it's just a launch for the sake of the sponsers. Maybe RedBull are keeping their car under wraps for longer to stop every other team from pinching and testing all of Newey's ideas before the start of the season, like they did last year???? Besides, not launching yet doesn't exactly stop them from testing certain parts for reliability, does it? I think AD has too much time on his hands. Either that or he has a target of 2 editorials to meet, regardless of content....!"

stranger

"Red Bull really need to make a step up this season. They have two teams so more resources overall and at least in the premier team they have two exceptional drivers, of Mark and Sebastian. They made some progress in terms of reliability in 2008, now its time for some progress in terms of car performance and overall speed."

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