Red Bull’s RB18 car has been doing some hard work in the gym in the last couple of weeks, as evidenced by the bulkier engine cover introduced ahead of the British Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez have, between them, taken out all of the last six race wins since the first major upgrade to the car was introduced at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
The initial changes following their rough start to the year – during which they suffered three reliability failures in as many races – turned the title race on its head following Charles Leclerc’s two wins in Bahrain and Australia, but there was speculation as to how many more upgrades the Milton Keynes side could bring.
Team principal Christian Horner has been vocal in recent weeks about the rate of inflation having an effect on the number of changes the teams could make to their cars, warning that, if the budget cap is not raised above $140 million, some teams may be forced to miss the end of the season.
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Nevertheless, it was suspected a number of races ago that the Austrian side would be bringing something significant along to the British Grand Prix weekend, and indeed they have.
The engine cover sticks out a lot more now than it did previously, and this is thought to be in a bid to improve the airflow over the engine cover and onto the beam wing.
It is, according to a report by the Italian version of Motorsport.com, intended to make the car mor streamlined, thus improving their straight-line speed.
Designer Adrian Newey’s latest bit of innovation coincides with his “no-rules” hypercar – the first he has worked on since the Aston Martin Valkyrie car.
The two-seater will not be road legal, and is intended to give drivers a track experience as close to F1 as possible without being behind the wheel of a single seater.
Free practice two in Silverstone saw Verstappen finish fourth with team-mate Perez in seventh as the Milton Keynes-based team chose not to unleash much of their true performance on Friday following a heavily disrupted FP1 due to rain.