Uncovered: Red Bull’s multiple data issues leading to RB20 development headache

Christian Horner believes the Red Bull wind tunnel’s data may be contributing to the team’s struggles, and admitted the RB20 may be “too complex”.

Red Bull has gone without a Grand Prix race victory since June’s Spanish Grand Prix, with its lead in the Constructors’ Championship shrinking to just eight points with eight races remaining as McLaren’s momentum remains intact.

Christian Horner: We’re developing with ‘three different watches’

Speaking after the Italian Grand Prix, Horner revealed that there is a developing trust issue at Red Bull as the team is struggling to believe its own data as it isn’t matching up with what’s occurring on track.

Elaborating on the data issues the team is currently encountering, the Red Bull team boss said the focus has to remain on the data being gathered on track but the team is currently caught in the tricky position of that not matching up with data from its computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations or the wind tunnel.

“I think you have to pick your tools,” he replied when asked about whether fixing the wind tunnel correlation is now the most important thing to happen before thinking of car updates.

“I mean CFD and wind tunnel data, obviously, it’s not unusual that when something’s not working on the car, you end up with different readings from your simulation tools, and they don’t converge.

“So then you get three sets of data – you get CFD, you get wind tunnel, and you get track.

“Obviously, the one that really counts is track data. But, to develop it, it’s like telling the time with three different watches – you’ve got to focus on the tool that’s going to give you the most valuable input.

“The track data is pretty important.”

But the wind tunnel data isn’t the main culprit behind the team’s current performance issues, Horner believes, although it has played its part.

“The wind tunnel has its limitations, which is why we’ve invested in a new tunnel,” he said.

“But it’s what we’ve got, and we have to make use of it, and I think the wind tunnel is perhaps a contributor, but it’s not the reason behind where we are.”

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With no end in sight for the balance issues that have plagued the team through this season – an issue in the car’s architecture which Horner said was visible as early as last year’s United States Grand Prix – he admitted the team may have gone too complex with the design of the RB20.

“No, I think you’ve got to look at all aspects of the car,” he said when asked whether the design of the floor has been ruled out as being the problem.

“There’s a balance issue with the car that isn’t allowing the drivers to commit to corner entry.

“So, as soon as you calm down the rear, you do that by compromising the front. So then you end up with understeer, and then you kill your tyre that way.

“So I think what we really need to do is get the map – if you look at McLaren, it looks like an evolution of last year’s car, a much simpler car than ours – perhaps we’ve gone a little too complex, and perhaps we need to simplify a few things.”

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