F1 | Racing Bulls: Baku tests to dispel doubts about new fund

For a few events now, Racing Bulls seems to have slowed down that growth path that, in some Grand Prix, had seen it establish itself as the leading force among the mid-group teams. The latest updates, especially those that had been introduced in Spain on the occasion of the triptych on fast tracks, had not given the hoped-for results, so much so that the team had chosen to go back in terms of specifications, also carrying out various comparisons between different elements.

An unexpected setback, also because it came at a critical moment of the season, that is, in a trio of races with very few opportunities to calmly analyze the data, leaving little time to take countermeasures. Precisely for this reason, it was decided to take a step back. Assembling pieces of the old package would have allowed us to have already known and functioning references to rely on, while waiting for the technicians in Faenza to be able to examine the data in more depth.

The drivers and the team did not hide that the updates went in the wrong direction, with a negative impact on the performance of the car, given that there were problems of correlation between the data acquired in the wind tunnel and the track. Difficulties also happened to other teams, such as Ferrari, Aston Martin and even Red Bull, which took a step back at certain points of the season.

However, the drivers had stressed that, although this setback was negative for the championship, on the other hand it could be an opportunity to better understand which areas of the car to work on and which direction to follow in development. In fact, it was almost seen as an opportunity to discard a wrong path and get back on the right track.

At Monza the team showed up with another new package, which included an update to the floor area, although it was only available for one car, that of Yuki Tsunoda. However, the weekend proved to be an uphill battle right from the first free practice sessions, initially due to a completely incorrect setup problem, then due to the difficulties in finding the feeling experienced in the simulator. The aim of the new floor was to increase aerodynamic load and improve flow management but, once brought to the track, the Japanese driver did not feel entirely at ease with this new unit.

“If you look at the numbers on the simulator, I should have gained some lap time, but we are not even close and we are quite far from what we wanted,” Tsunoda explained at the end of the Monza weekend.

“The team wanted to see how the new floor behaved and we wanted to collect data, but clearly in qualifying we were struggling with the car. We hoped that in the race, at least the new floor would have given some benefit, but it is completely different from what I tried in the simulator,” the Japanese driver added.

Yuki Tsunoda, RB F1 Team VCARB 01

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

For this reason, after the doubts that emerged in Italy, to understand something more about this new specification of the fund, Racing Bulls will use the first free practices to carry out tests and aerodynamic measurements. It is certainly not a surprise that the teams dedicate part of the Friday sessions to research and development, given that Aston Martin also followed the same process two weeks ago, working more on the long term.

Alongside the classic work of researching the set-up for the weekend, the Faenza team will also carry out specific tests to understand how to extract the most from the new aerodynamic package: “Baku is one of the most technically demanding circuits on the F1 calendar and can also provide a little extra unpredictability!”, explained Jody Egginton, Racing Bulls technical director.

“Our testing programme for this race will be very intense because, in addition to the normal set-up work we do at each event, we also have a series of important tests planned to learn more and optimise the cars around the new chassis package that we evaluated for the first time in Monza.”