After the last race, Christian Horner revealed Red Bull would be getting an upgrade ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix. And now, they have been spotted with a radiator redesign on their chassis, and according to their own claims, it’s likely to add two-tenths of a second to their already unbeatable pace. And according to Sam Collins, the Milton-Keynes-based outfit got a free upgrade.
After violating the 2021 cost cap, Red Bull was given a wind tunnel penalty. Thus, they have limited scope to make developments over the year. It’s not a concern as the world champions have a sizeable lead over others.
🚨| Front comparison of the RB19 Inlets
Those inlets are super narrow😳
Red Bull must be incredibly confident in their cooling system. Let’s see how these upgrades work tomorrow
© [@Yuyujiteki_Si] #F1 #HungarianGP pic.twitter.com/6SYD23Y56e
— RBR Daily (@RBR_Daily) July 20, 2023
However, it raises a question of how they have picked such a huge development with only limited wind tunnel time remaining over half of the season. But apparently, Red Bull has been “really, really clever,” as per Collins.
Red Bull made a huge development without Wind Tunnel
Many speculations suggested Red Bull would bring in an Aston Martin-type sidepod design. However, the change in the radiator duct inlet was a surprise, which has a smaller cooling inlet to reduce the drag. Moreover, a larger undercut pushes the air toward the car’s rear. With this, the Austrian team can increase its pace, and according to Collins, the championship leaders were very smart about it as they saw a loophole.
“I think they have been really, really clever because radiator redesigns don’t need to come out of wind tunnel allocation,” said Collins during the Weekend Warmup in Hungary. “So they’ve got a bit of a free upgrade. And that upgrades would be worth more than 2-3 tenths of a second.”
However, Collins warns that Red Bull could struggle as every big upgrade doesn’t work instantly. But Alex Brundle reckons that they are the only side that can afford to take risks at the moment.
Christian Horner’s team favorite, despite everything
Red Bull has a sizeable lead of 208 points over the second team in the standings (Mercedes). Even Max Verstappen has more points than the Silver Arrows, and the track characteristics certainly suit Red Bull, unlike Silverstone.
So, even if upgrades don’t work, they will topple everyone in the way with a huge pace advantage added with Verstappen’s perfect race craft. Meanwhile, Mercedes, which has managed to irritate the championship leaders here and there, is unlikely to have a brilliant race.
Even Lando Norris claimed after the British Grand Prix that McLaren would suffer on tracks with slow corners. However, only Aston Martin has shown some optimism around this race. But would they be able to challenge Red Bull? That remains to be seen.
