Helmut Marko, Red Bull F1 Motorsports Advisor, is open about the issues he faces regarding the weight of the RB18, admitting that this issue will not be fixed at the Emilia Romagnag GP this weekend.
Red Bull Racing is optimistic that the RB18 will start the 2022 F1 season with up to 10 kilograms heavier than some of its rivals, and the team will get up to 0.3 seconds in lap time if they lose weight.
Red Bull Racing is one of the teams that raced in heavier cars than desired in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Australia, despite their best efforts to run as light as possible, and their work in Imola and Miami. Will continue, but Helmut Marko admitted that he is not expected to make significant progress in reducing the weight of the RB18 until the Spanish Grand Prix in mid-May.
Red Bull Racing has started a new season with a car competing for victory with Scuderia Ferrari, but the reliability problem of 50% completion rate in the opening three races is a big obstacle.
“Ferrari is closer to the lowest weight than we are. We think 10 kilograms is too much. That’s at least 0.3 seconds,” Helmut Marko told F1-Insider.
“If we reduce the weight, it will be 0.3 seconds faster, which gives us more hope.”
The challenge for Red Bull is to find a way to make the RB18 lighter without causing new problems.
Both Mercedes and Ferrari appear to be more prominently bouncing on the track, but Helmut Marko says both Red Bull and the porpoising are struggling.
“You can’t simply build a chassis that’s 10 kilometers lighter. You have to start in all areas,” explains Helmut Marko.
“It has budget limits and should not jeopardize credibility.”
“Even if bowing doesn’t look so cruel to us from a purely visual point of view, the load is enormous. We need to find a healthy midpoint, but that doesn’t happen overnight.”
Red Bull and Mercedes have suffered various problems so far in 2022, but Ferrari has not encountered any major problems. Carlos Sainz Jr.’s “Driver Error”, which recorded DNF in Australia, is their only retirement.
Helmut Marko says Scuderia Ferrari’s near-perfect start is underpinned by the willingness to abandon the 2021 season when Red Bull and Mercedes were fighting for the World Champion.
“It was definitely an advantage, but we really had no choice because we were competing for the title with Mercedes until the end. This world title was very important to us,” Helmut Marko added.
“But if you look at the problems Mercedes has in the car, we managed it well.”
Category: Category: F1 / Red bull