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Perez's crash to blame for no 'special' wing on RB20? Here is the reason
- Ludo van Denderen
By seven kph behind at top speed on the straights. That's how much Max Verstappen is slower of his rivals driving Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren. Much has been said about why the team decided not to introduce a special rear wing for low downforce circuits like Monza and Las Vegas. There is speculation among F1 fans that the cost of these wings couldn't fit under the cost cap because Sergio Perez's crashes this season is the reason for that. Is that correct?
Red Bull already decided some time ago not to spend the available budget on a dedicated rear wing, as GPblog has previously explained. Max Verstappen revealed on Friday night in Las Vegas that this was a choice made in 2022; a decision that was absolutely the right one for that season and last year as well. Indeed, the Austrian team's car was so good in that time period that there was no need to have a special rear wing at all.
Shifting budgets is not easy
Like every team, Red Bull Racing decided at the beginning of a season of how much money was being spent on what, and the assumption then was that the RB20 did not need a special rear wing either. Any money that could possibly be spent on having that 'special' wing created was put to other uses. At Monza earlier this season, however, Red Bull found out that the current car could not compensate for the lack of the aforementioned component at a high-speed circuit.
But by then the money had already been distributed over the year and no decision was made to make changes to that. Also remember, Red Bull have had to make some drastic adjustments in recent months to generate more speed. Think of the sweeping updates in the United States. That obviously costs money - from the money dedicated to updates, so to speak. Moreover, designing and building a new rear wing is a time-consuming and therefore expensive business. For 10,000 euros, you really don't have another rear wing.
Every team take damage into account
Of course, every F1 team takes crashes and thus damages to the cars into account. A sum of money is set aside for this every year. This money paid for the damage caused by Perez's crashes this season. So it is not that Red Bull are surprised by the damage incurred, that is just part of the deal. Creating a wing is completely separate from having money set apart for repairs.
Taking money away from the sum that is dedicated for repairing damaged cars to pay for a special rear wing in September anyway would have been a risky decision. Because what if suddenly the drivers were involved in many incidents? Then there was the danger that Red Bull could not enter a race weekend at all. So as Red Bull themselves confirmed, it all comes down to the choices made in the past, and the previous distribution of their budget.
This article was written in collaboration with Kada Sárközi
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