Red Bull technical director Adrian Newey says RB8 will be an evolutionary car – Formula 1 news
Red Bull’s technical director Adrian Newey says that RB8 will be an evolution of its predecessors.
Red Bull has maintained the same design since they developed the RB5 in 2009. The design was a winning one, claiming back-to-back constructors’ championships and drivers’ championships for the 2010 and 2011 seasons.
The car had remained dominant throughout the 2011 season and it was mainly due to the innovative blown diffuser design on the car which kept it ahead of other cars. The FIA has banned off-throttle emission of gases through the blown diffuser for 2012, and
that is bound to change things. Newey believes that they have changed the blown diffuser according to the new regulations but the rest of the car is still going to be an evolution of the RB7.
“It's still an evolution,” he told ESPNF1. “The changes for next year are principally a ban on exhaust blown diffusers and a change to the nose height. I don't feel that that means you have to have a wholesale change of the underpinnings of the car.”
The car had some chinks in 2010 with some reliability issues during the season but the 2011 season went through almost unblemished. The only time there was an issue was when Sebastian Vettel had to retire because his rear tyre burst, but whether it was an
issue with the tyre or the car was not proven even after extensive investigations by both Pirelli and Red Bull.
Then in the final race of the season, Vettel faced some transmission problems due to which he had to reduce his pace through the race but still managed to finish second to his teammate Mark Webber.
“It's that balance of trying to push everything as hard as you dare in the pursuit of performance without losing reliability in the process. In 2010 we threw away a lot of points with problems, but they were silly problems, they weren't problems due to the
fundamental reliability of the car,” Newey added.
It would be interesting to see if Red Bull keep up their dominance through 2012 with the new RB8. A glimpse of what it is going to be during the season will be on display in February during the pre-season testing.
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