Red Bull technical director Pierre Waché has revealed the team are looking into designing a low-drag rear wing after Max Verstappen rued losing “two race weekends” last season.
Operating under a budget cap since 2021, the Formula 1 teams have had to make compromises, even putting upgrades and parts on the backburner.
Red Bull did not have a low-drag wing in 2024
Last season Red Bull made the call not to design a bespoke low-drag rear wing, leading to some confusion at the Las Vegas Grand Prix as to whether they’d packed the wrong wing.
Running without a low-drag rear wing, Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko revealed the reigning World Champions did “not have another rear wing, a smaller rear wing, as we see it on our competitors” but that having one would “be more helpful”.
The confusion was cleared up by team principal Christian Horner who explain that Red Bull did “not forget a rear wing”, they don’t have one.
He told Sky F1: “We don’t have a specifically designed wing for very low downforce, which is basically potentially here and Monza. I mean, the money that is involved in creating that within the cost cap, you’ve got to pick and choose where you’re going to spend it.
“So the wing that we have, you end up trimming the wings to achieve a top speed and that’s what many, many of the teams have done.”
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But off the podium in Italy, where he was P6, and Las Vegas, where he was fifth, Verstappen felt Red Bull were losing out.
“It feels a bit like we throw away two race weekends like this,” said the World Champion, who wrapped up the title in Vegas. “You definitely lose too much on the straights.
“We know that with our wing naturally you lose top speed, especially with the DRS open. It’s a bit of a handicap.”
But even if the wing will only be used for one more season given 2026’s all-new cars with active aerodynamics, and therefore only two race weekends, Waché is open to giving it consideration.
“It has to do with the budget cap, but also with what you found,” he told Motorsport.com. “It is not because you have a different shape than the other teams that it is worse.
“When you have a massive balance issue, then I don’t know if the rear wing was the main issue. We will look at it, what to do next season and if we find something better.
“I don’t dismiss Max’s comments saying ‘we didn’t look at it enough’, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that we will find a better solution.
“I think there is a margin between saying ‘the others have done that and it is better’ and being open-minded. I fully agree with that final part about being open-minded.
“We have to look at what is the best solution for our car. If you find a special shape for Monza and Vegas but it is one tenth slower, then why would you take it?”
First and foremost though, the technical director admits Red Bull need to put a better-balanced car on the track this year after even Verstappen struggling with the RB20 last year.
That, the Frenchman says, is the “biggest” issue for Red Bull to resolve with this year’s RB21.
“If you have a balance problem, you try to set up the car at a certain point to counteract the balance problem,” he added. “But if you base the entire adjustment on counteracting a balance problem, you create even more problems. You have to think of tyre wear, discomfort over the bumps and problems with driving comfort.
“It’s a snowball effect. If you look at the traction, while the real problem is at the entrance of the corner, then it doesn’t really make sense to look at the traction. In that case, you first have to focus on entering the corner, so on the deeper cause.
“It doesn’t mean we won’t focus on the rest, don’t get me wrong, but we had to focus on the balance issues first.”
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