Christian Horner admits Red Bull trying to conceal RB8 secrets – Formula 1 news
Red Bull principal Christian Horner said that the team has been trying to conceal its secrets of the RB8 from its opponents.
Red Bull was seen covering the car’s exhaust every time it pitted to hide it from the media and its rivals so that it does not reveal its so called “secrets.”
Red Bull has won two back-to-back titles in 2010 and 2011 with a dominant car that has outpaced other cars on most occasions.
During the 2011 pre-season tests Red Bull ran its car without trying to hide anything as they wanted to look into how the car will behave and did not have any other choice. But this year Horner has said that Red Bull will try to conceal as much as they can
to not give any advantage to its rivals.
“We didn't want it photographed at the first opportunity from every side by our competition,” Horner told Auto Motor und Sport. “At last year's launch at Valencia there were 100 photographers all doing their shots from the roof of the pits. In no time at
all, everyone knew every dimension of our car.”
Horner has said that an updated exhaust configuration still needs to be launched while concealing it so that others are not able to copy is something the team is doing deliberately.
“Last year we had to have the blown diffuser out early because we had to find out how the exhaust gases affected the tyres. This time, the secret is in the detail, and you don't want to give your competition too much of a helping hand,” he said.
Ferrari have been experimenting with their exhaust as well but are finding themselves in a lot of technical difficulties, whereas Red Bull seem much more assured of what they are trying to achieve from their testing.
Lotus were seen as a major threat to Red Bull in the upcoming season as they displayed spectacular pace and reliability throughout the first test at Jerez though they have found themselves in a bit of bother as their chassis has a fault that needs proper
look into. Lotus has dropped their participation in the remainder of the test and will feature in the last test.
Lewis Hamilton has also said that Red Bull looks to be the best car on the track as is very much the car to beat during the 2012 season.
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