Adrian Newey “RB18 is statistically the best Red Bull F1 car”[F1-Gate.com]

Red Bull F1 Chief Technical Officer Adrian Newey says the team is proud to have produced its most dominant car to date in 2022, despite a hard-fought championship fight last year.

Adrian Newey says the RB18, which has won 17 of its 22 races this year, must be regarded as Red Bull’s best F1 car so far, especially given its development in 2021.

“Statistically, the RB18 is our best car,” Newey said in a video produced by Red Bull Racing.

“I think it’s a car we can be just as proud of as we’ve had a tough championship battle throughout 2021. We’ve continued to develop the car for the season.”

“Obviously we knew that with limited resources, if we put R&D into that car, we wouldn’t be able to put that R&D into a brand new, very new car due to new regulations.”

Red Bull was later found to have gone over their budget during the 2021 season, though the team has denied profiting from it.

Adrian Newey said he faced a “difficult balance” in prioritizing the development of current and new cars during 2021.

“We focused on getting the fundamentals right, trying to get the package right, including front and rear suspension, monocoque layout, radiator layout, etc. While it wasn’t the fastest car to start with, it has grown throughout the season. I hope we can prepare a package capable of doing that,” he commented.

Adrian Newey says Red Bull Racing sorted out the car’s teething problems quickly.

“In pre-season testing we were a bit worried before we got there. We had already done a little research and had a vague idea of ​​what we needed to do to improve it.”

“So when we put on the Race One pack in Bahrain just before the race, it definitely brought us to roughly the same level as Ferrari.”

“There were definitely some weaknesses in the car in the first half of the season. Of course there are still some weaknesses, but we have reduced them and in the second half we have a fully competitive package.”

Category: F1 / Red Bull