The new Formula 1 season has yet to start, but teams are already busy working on the new cars for 2024. Some teams do get to spend more time in the wind tunnel and CFD than others. Read how much time each team is allowed to spend in the wind tunnel and on CFD in 2024 here!
Why F1 limits wind tunnel time for F1 teams
Formula 1 has largely relied on wind tunnel testing and the computer programme CFD since testing was abolished. This allows parts on the car to be tested to your heart's content, but for several years now regulations have restricted this.
How much time are F1 teams allowed to spend in the wind tunnel?
Due to the corona virus, the strings were tightened all the way. F1 teams were sitting on around 65 wind tunnel runs per week until 2020, but were only allowed 40 runs in 2021. In 2021, a scale was also attached to that, to give smaller teams more time to catch up with the top teams. Per spot in the championship, a constructor was given 2.5 per cent more or less time in the wind tunnel at its disposal. The leader in the championship got 90 per cent of the 40 runs, or 36 runs per week. The runner-up got 112.5 per cent, or 45 runs per week.
That scale was further adjusted for the 2022-2025 F1 season, with the differences per spot being as much as five per cent. As a result, the championship leader gets only 70 per cent (28 runs per week) and the number last 115 per cent (46 runs per week).
Red Bull Racing gains ground on competition
For the 2024 F1 season, the constructors' championship standings will guide the new allocation key to be determined. Red Bull Racing will therefore get the least time in the wind tunnel of all F1 teams, while Haas, as number last, will have the most time at its disposal.
Red Bull will be allowed 70 per cent of the maximum number of runs, bringing it to 28 runs per week in the wind tunnel. Surely this will feel like a win for Red Bull, as until 26 October 2023 Red Bull could only use 63 per cent because it had a penalty for exceeding the budget cap in 2021.
Mercedes was already in second place among constructors on 30 June 2023 and thus keeps the same number of runs. Ferrari was in fourth place by mid-2023 and thus has to surrender two runs per week due to its third finishing position in 2023. McLaren is also losing ground. The Woking-based team was sixth among constructors after the Canadian Grand Prix and have moved up two spots. In doing so, they lose four runs a week.
Aston Martin are winner in this case, as it lost two spots towards the end of the season. Alpine, which was fifth in mid-2023, also gains two more runs due to its sixth spot. Haas and Alfa Romeo also gain four runs each as they both dropped two spots.
| Place | Team | Percentage 2023 | Percentage 2024 |
| 1 | Red Bull Racing | 70% | 70% |
| 2 | Mercedes | 75% | 75% |
| 3 | Ferrari | 85% | 80% |
| 4 | McLaren | 95% | 85% |
| 5 | Aston Martin | 80% | 90% |
| 6 | Alpine | 90% | 95% |
| 7 | Williams | 110% | 100% |
| 8 | AlphaTauri | 115% | 105% |
| 9 | Alfa Romeo | 100% | 110% |
| 10 | Haas | 105% | 115% |
The new distribution applies until 30 June 2024. The Austrian Grand Prix will be held on Sunday 30 June, so those points will still count. The championship standings after that race weekend will determine the distribution key for the second half of the year.
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Showing still that Red Bull's cost cap breach penalty was a nothing.
Totally meaningless penalty that wasn't a penalty.
I reckon that any other team would have got hammered for the same thing, as the Financial Director of the FIA, Federico Lodi, is an ex Toro Rosso man. I think he clearly helped RB through that cost cap affair so they could limit the damage.
That's why the penalty was a discussion and not a set punishment.
Reminds me of Jeddah when Masi offered Red Bull a deal in the pit lane about what penalty they would prefer and left RB to decide. Utterly ludicrous that this can happen.
LoL thanks for putting a smile on my face. Red bull really struck a nerve. I'm looking forward to a year of crying and hateful comment from you. But please try to keep it clean and don't make the mistake to post "you know what" tips of comments like last year.
Let's just ignore him, he's a troll, even during Christmas he can't be friendly.
Yeah let's be a little club and look away from the nasty man. :) Hehe.
Why should Christmas be any different? You're all the same. You haven't changed.
On New Year I wrote a nice message addressed to everyone here.
But are the RB trolls going to stop or change? No. So why do you expect me to?
I'm not your friend and I'm not here to make friends.
If you want to ignore me, then be my guest. You don't have to spread your cowardice to others though.
Sure, or maybe, just maybe I have better things to do then endlessly discuss with a wall. Have a great evening.
I would have preferred you saying "I surrender but please let me have the last word", but I'll take this as a substitute. :)
??
Welcome back. I missed you already.
There are points within those essays. But if you're part of the generation that can't handle anything longer than a text message then don't expect any sympathy from me.
When was the last time you read a book?
If you can't be bothered, then don't bother. If you can't stomach my essays because it takes more than 30s to read one, then you're out of your depth with me.
Go play with JohnAndrews, he likes short messages.
But just remember, this is a discussion blog, not Twitter.
You don't make a point, you write essays on a F1 blog, I can't be bothered to read it, let alone reply to it.
You won, again so go celebrate!
Well considering that your replies consisted of mere nothings and you were afraid to tackle any point I'd make, it's hard to make a case for you winning anything.
I continue to speak because a) I can b) In annoys you c) not really speaking, I'm typing.
And beating you is not really an achievement.
Yeah, you won so hard, why do you continue to speak after such an amazing achievement?
You're running on empty. A hollow victory for me then as you couldn't even put up a fight.
Blabla.
Sure, you win.
Have a great day.
I'm hardly crazy. You yourself are also acting as a keyboard warrior, do you not see that?
I don't have a crazy narrative. Why do you have to make up so much junk in order to say something? It's all just troll-like rubbish statements that mean nothing.
When did you make a friendly post to me? Do you intend to?
No, so don't expect that of me.
I did not lie about the new year. Go back to the Happy New Year article and see for yourself.
Why should I not fire shots? Others are, you are. Why am I the exception? Because you don't like what I have to say, isn't that right?
Others who feed the same narrative you push, you're ok with them.
So many anti-Hamilton commentary on here and you're nowhere to be found pushing back on that.
And you tell me I have a narrative. Get real.
"Have fun when everyone stops talking to you."
Unlike you, everyone here are not cowards. In fact, you want others to ignore me but you can't even do that yourself.
And yes it's cowardice. You're running away because you don't have the tools to fight with. You can't be civil or put up a decent counter argument. Well that's your problem, not other peoples.
Not everyone is like you. At least some trolls on here CAN put up counter-arguments that are worth reading.
I've not seen you do that. If you want to ignore me (as you said you did), then do so. Leave others to make their own decisions.
Many of those who don't talk, can't talk. They have no answers, no comebacks and no argument. And they know it, so they bow out.
What people like you can't understand is that if you were better people in the first place, I wouldn't have to retaliate like I do.
You can stick your 'great evening'. I don't need your insincerity.
So coward to ignore a crazy Hamilton keyboard warrior, completely twisting everything to fit in his crazy narrative.
Don't lie about new year, if you already fire shots on Christmas and every other day for that matter.
Have fun when everyone stops talking to you.
Have a great evening.
Oh grow up will ya?
My comments have always been clean and I made no mistakes in my post. I know you now like to bring this up, but it's meaningless to others without context and meaningless to me because I am fine with what was posted. You, on the other hand, made the dirty post when you accused me of things which are patently untrue. Your English interpretation skills are very much in doubt.
Now, despite that I know that this is something you want to bring up to goad me, I will not refer to it again. I've said all that needs to be said on it.
It's not about Red Bull striking a nerve. I just don't like their management and their cheating ways.
My comments are not because of crying or hate. They are solely written to annoy people like you. And look how it's worked.
Well done max and horner. You really got to this one.
Oh, no comeback? Yeah thanks for proving my point - as you always do.
LoL
People who assume others are emotional, do so because they recognise their own weak position.
Another sign of that, is their inability to respond to content in the post they are replying to because they know the other person is right.
You don't laugh, you've spent all last year complaining and whinging at me.
LoL why so angry 44. Don't be like toto and break stuff please. This is only the first week of 2024. We need you to be strong. Who else will make us laugh during a nother max dominant year.
Just as I and Lewis and Toto and Mercedes have got to you.
You're not very bright are you.
Look at all the Lewis hate. From you and many others. Then your disdain for me.
Clearly you are the one's who are gotten to.
I talk about Max and Horner because it annoys people like you, who then cry about it and show disdain for me. Then my comments get to you.
Compared to you and those like you, I'm doing fine.
The fact you failed to acknowledge anything in my post is a sign or defeat.
Red Bull cheated their way to a title. This is just a fact. Max didn't and couldn't beat Lewis on merit, that was factually shown.
Horner hasn't been on my Christmas card list since 2010.
Just like I'm not on yours. :)
So, as I said, it's me who got to you and I will continue to do so. :)
The year just started and you are crying already. Can we expect your crying the whole year??? Dear...dear dear.
You said I was angry a moment ago, haha.
Typical troll comments. Trolls always like to pretend the other person is emotional to try and cover their own weak position and lack of answers.
As with anything in life, it is not the quantity but the quality that is important.
A team like Haas might be given 46 runs per week, but if the engineers are not able to utilise it efficiently, the extra times allowed will not bring any significant improvements to their car, as compared to RB, with Newey being able to maximise the 28 runs that their are allowed.
I always wondered how the FIA monitor the use of the wind tunnel