Newey faces challenge: 'Every kilogram lost will cost Red Bull £200,000'

Adrian Newey faces a challenge. Red Bull Racing may currently have one of the best cars on the grid, but the RB18 is also one of the heaviest cars in the field. Newey's solution to the problems of porpoising would involve extra weight and it is proving to be not so easy to compensate for that weight increase.

Newey's latest gem would generate the most downforce by being very low on the asphalt. To avoid porpoising again, a stiffer floor was chosen, but according to the Italian branch of Motorsport.com Red Bull Racing is paying the price in extra weight for this.

Unlike its rivals at Ferrari and Mercedes, Red Bull seems to have tackled porpoising early on in the design phase by creating a floor that deflects much less than those of other teams. However, this resulted in a car that is about ten kilograms above the minimum weight of 798 kilograms.

Helmut Marko assured that there is a plan to reduce the weight, but added that the budget ceiling complicates that plan considerably. That may be true, as calculations suggest it would cost around 200,000 pounds per kilogram lost.

This may force Newey to remove weight at the bottom, risking flexing the floor as is the case with other teams. However, this will come at the expense of the high downforce that makes the RB18 so competitive, so that solution will not be high on the designer's wish list.