Red Bull suffers from budget cap penalty: 'Huge effect on car '24''
F1 News
It seems like a stroke of luck. Red Bull Racing's lead over the rest of the field is now so large that the penalty after exceeding the budget cap hardly seems to affect performance. As we know, the team of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez has less time in the wind tunnel, but that does not seem to bother them.
Verstappen is well on his way to winning his third world title in a row, while Red Bull is again going to be the best among constructors (barring a huge collapse). As such, the need for wind tunnel testing seems to have diminished a lot for this season. At the press conference in Canada, Pierre Waché, Red Bull's technical director, was therefore asked whether it will all turn out easier than previously perhaps feared.
'Red Bull goes to the limit'
"I think it is never easier," the Frenchman responded. " I think it's never easier. I think the fact that you have a restriction of time in the number of runs of CFD or wind tunnel, I think we had this restriction, it just reduced. It's not easier because we are leading the championship. It's as difficult, we are going to the limit. I think it could affect for sure the current development of the car and maybe closing the grid this year but also will affect massively the next year car. Then I cannot tell you that it's easier because we want the best car next year. Then it will affect our performance, I don't know yet."
It's not just the budget cap penalty that affects time in the wind tunnel. The higher a team gets in the final constructors' championship rankings, the less time can be spent in the wind tunnel.