Red Bull excited about RB16B: 'Seeing early signs of performance gains'

Before every race, Red Bull Racing gives a preview in which the drivers look ahead to the weekend. Starting this year, there is also the section 'What The Tech' with technical director Pierre Wache.

Main structure unchanged

Wache first discusses the RB16B, Red Bull Racing's new car. "We have a lot of carryover this year, by regulation the main structure of the car didn’t change and we, like all teams, have used parts from last year hence the name RB16B," he said. However, there have been some changes on the aerodynamic front: "including changes on the floor, on the rear brake ducts and some small adjustments on the barge boards."

For the richer teams, another major change this season is the budget cap. "That has a massive effect on the sport and the front running teams. The way we work and the way we develop the car has to be more efficient in all areas of the business."

Feedback from Perez

Also new to Red Bull Racing is Sergio Perez as a driver, with whom Wache has previously worked at Sauber. "We value Sergio’s feedback a lot. His feedback and his capacity to drive the car, especially in long runs; how he’s managing very well the pace and reducing the degradation. Clearly his current feedback on the handling of the car, and the experience he had with a completely different car concept previously was valuable for us and interesting to understand."

Signs of performance gains

Red Bull Racing can look back on a successful winter test with many laps driven and ultimately the fastest time by Max Verstappen. "On the full car dyno we use, we see already some early signs of performance gain compared to last year. I think it is a combination of the engine development plus the ExxonMobil fuel," Wache explained.

However, he is still hesitant to say much about the performance against the competition. "I’m sure all teams and power units have made gains so we do not know if it put us ahead of anyone at this stage but we are very grateful for the work our partners have put in over the winter. Now we can only hope that the combination with the RB16B chassis is strong enough to take on the best in this engineering race."