Newey on RB16B: 'Those developments got us where we are today'

For years, third place was usually the best Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing could achieve. This year, however, the Milton Keynes-based team have managed to take the fight to the previously unbeatable Mercedes team. Although the German team is leading the standings, the season is still long and the difference in points is next to nothing.

Tokens

Adrian Newey explains to Autosport.com how it is possible that Red Bull were able to catch up with Mercedes, despite COVID ensuring there were no rule changes, meaning the cars are almost the same as the year before. The tokens that each team can use to make small changes to the car proved to be the deciding factor for Verstappen's team.

"The possibilities were limited with the tokens we were allowed to spend. We chose to spend ours on the gearbox housing, which also allowed us to change the rear suspension set-up. That was the one thing I felt hadn't worked very well on the RB16," Newey said.

Mistakes are good

Newey went on to explain the approximate process of developing the car: "To go back a little bit, when we went from the 2019 RB15 to the RB16 last year, there were a number of things about the car that we didn't fully understand. Even with the wind tunnel program and all our simulation tools, there are still things that can trip you up, and that's exactly what happened at the start of 2020. It took some time to understand and solve those problems. The upside of that - as is often the case - is that you learn things you wouldn't have learned otherwise. You get more out of the mistakes than the good things. I think that served us well in what we did over the winter, and those developments got us where we are today."