Christian Horner reckons McLaren has made very simpler evolution of its F1 car than Red Bull, who is facing co-relation issues.
Red Bull has found themselves in a spot of bother with their car this year. The development route they have taken has not worked at all but the one taken by its rival McLaren has worked wonders for them, as Horner noted about them.
He reckons McLaren has developed a much simplified car than Red Bull, which has cost them this year. Horner also accepts that they have hit ceiling with parts of the car. “I think you got to look at all the aspects of the car, there is a balance issue with the car, it isn’t allowing the drivers to commit to corner entry, so as soon as you calm down the rear, you do that by compromising the front, so then you end up with understeer and then you kill your tyre that way,” said Horner.
“So what we really need to do is get the map….and when you look at McLaren, it looks like an evolution of last year’s car, a much simpler car than ours, perhaps we have gone a bit too complex and perhaps we need to simplify few things. We’ve hit the ceiling in certain areas and the cars disconnected, and, sometimes maybe, to have slightly less load but an overall better balance would generate better lap time, better degradation, better tyre management, and all those other aspects.
“You have to question everything. You have to question has something else changed? So you can leave no stone unturned. But, I think where were we before – Miami, China, or Japan, we won at a canter. When the car is in the window and it works…you see in Austria, all four sets of tyres, Max put the car on pole position and was leading very easily until the final pit stop.
“At Spa in the wet, if you take out Max’s super talent, Checo was still on front row. So, when the car is in the window, it works as predicted or closer to prediction. But that window is so small, that’s what we have to work with – we have to widen the operating window,” summed up Horner, who feels Red Bull can have a swing like their rivals.
But he admits that Red Bull hasn’t experienced such situations. “The swing is very quick that’s something we haven’t experienced before so quickly,” said Horner. “The fact that it could swing so quickly one way, it can swing back the other way as well, so that’s what we are focused on at the moment.”
The co-relation issues has hit Red Bull and Horner accepts that the wind tunnel has its limitations too. At the moment, they have three sets of data, one of CFD, one wind tunnel and the final one being the track, and it is the latter which they rely on the most.
“I think you have to pick your tools, I mean CFD and wind tunnel data…it is not unusual when something is not working on the car, you end up with different readings in simulation tool and they don’t converge, so then you get three sets of data – you get CFD, you get wind tunnel and you get track,” said Horner.
“Obviously, the one that really counts is the track data, to develop it, it is like telling the team with three different watches, you got to focus on the tool that is going to give you the most valuable info and of course track data is the most reliable. The wind tunnel has its limitations, which is why we invested in a new tunnel. But that’s what we have and we have to make use of it. And I think the wind tunnel may contribute to that, but it’s not the reason behind where we are now.”
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