Christian Horner did not vote against that idea on behalf of Red Bull during a video conference between the Formula 1 teams, the FIA and the FOM: “Red Bull would like to keep looking at the big picture when drawing up new rules”, he is quoted as saying through The Race.
The idea is that the number of hours spent in the wind tunnel and on Research and Development (R&D) may be spent is set at an x number of hours. The Constructors’ Champion may only use 90% of that quota, the worst and any new teams as much as 112.5%. In the future, those numbers will shift to 70% and 115%, respectively.
It is a big step away from the traditional philosophy of Formula 1. Free development and innovation has always been a great asset, but this is to some extent curbed it: “Red Bull is not a fan of this kind of racing with a handicap,” said Horner. “Fortunately, that aerodynamic development is not completely limited, but we will see how it works out. It is the way it is.”
According to the Red Bull team boss, there is also a strange kind of contradiction in the new rules: “Ironically, you now encourage the small teams to spend more on R&D than the top teams.”
Although the smaller teams now seem to be getting an extra boost on paper, Horner does not necessarily believe that this will cause a huge shift in the performances of the teams: “In the end, the best teams always come to the surface, but it will be interesting to see how everything turns out. “
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