Red Bull hasn't yet given up fight for world title despite 'disadvantage'
Paul Monaghan has not yet given up hope of winning the 2024 Formula 1 Constructors' Championship with Red Bull. Red Bull's chief engineer argues that the team does not gain much from more time in the wind tunnel and that the world title is much more important.
In 2021, Formula 1 introduced the descending scale for time in CFD and the wind tunnel. Simply put, teams that performed well were given less time in the wind tunnel than teams that performed worse. That way, F1 hoped the field would get closer together.
Red Bull wants to win the world title
Red Bull Racing has suffered from this phenomenon for several seasons now. As it has continuously led the constructors' standings, it gets the least amount of time to develop the car and design new parts. With a current third place in the world championship, that could change, provided the standings remain that way at the end of the season. If so, Red Bull will have an advantage over Ferrari and McLaren. However, it is not something Monaghan is waiting for.
"Personally, my pride would be dented more than anything else, I suspect. Yes, we get a slight increase, but I'd rather retain the Constructors' Championship than look at the time [in the wind tunnel and CFD]. That's up to us," Monaghan said in Brazil.
Therefore, Red Bull Racing has certainly not given up the battle with McLaren and Ferrari. According to Monaghan, the fact that the two teams can spend more time in the wind tunnel than Red Bull Racing is also not a valid excuse for not beating them.
"Well, we've got slightly less than [the others]. Ferrari and McLaren are quite close to us. If I then look at the difference down to, say, Haas or Williams, without being disrespectful to their performance to the middle of this season, they get a chunk more than us. It's not necessarily about having just the time, it's having the time and drawing something from it, which is part of the skill. So I can moan all I want but it's not going to change anything," he concluded.
This article has been created in collaboration with Matt Gretton