VCARB make major Red Bull change ahead of Las Vegas Grand Prix

VCARB will be running with an updated rear on its car for the final three races, taking on components from Red Bull’s RB20 for the rest of the season.

With Red Bull and VCARB becoming more closely technically aligned, the VCARB01 will receive the rear suspension and gearbox from the Red Bull RB20 for the final three races of the F1 2024 season.

VCARB to take on board Red Bull components

With VCARB having had a season of sporadic form in 2024, the final trio of races represents the last chance for the Faenza-based squad to secure sixth place in the Constructors’ Championship – a formidable challenge as Haas and Alpine are each within five points, and ahead of VCARB.

The development of the VCARB01 hasn’t been a straightforward one, with an update package introduced at the Spanish Grand Prix sending the car’s performance in the wrong direction as correlation and manufacturing issues resulted in the team having to figure out where the upgrades hadn’t worked, and where they had.

For the final triple-header, VCARB will repeat last year’s assimilation of current Red Bull components. Known as AlphaTauri in 2023, the AT04 received the rear suspension of the dominant RB19 from the Singapore Grand Prix – with an uptick in form immediately ensuing.

This year, the VCARB01 will take on the rear suspension and gearbox of the RB20 for the final races, in the last-gasp push for sixth place. The lateness in the seasons has resulted from the suspension being more complex to implement into the VCARB01 – not helped by the aforementioned correlation issues and the need to understand what had not matched up from its simulations and CFD data.

Such component sharing is completely permitted under the regulations, with customer teams permitted to buy certain transferable components – these include gearboxes and suspension.

Transferrable Components (TRC) are defined in the regulations, with supply agreements such as gearboxes and rear suspensions covered under this classification.

There are umpteen components listed in the Technical Regulations, all of which are permitted to be used by customer teams.

The supplier must “own and/or control all rights, information and/or data of any nature (including all aspects of the design, manufacturing, know-how, operating procedures, properties and calibrations).”

TRC parts supplied to another team must be identical in every way, although modifications to the design are permitted – this is to ensure teams don’t design bespoke components specifically for the customer.

Suppliers must also give customers all the relevant costings and financial information on the manufacturing/logistics of the supply, as the Financial Regulations outline these parts must be granted a “fair value” for accounting purposes under the budget cap.

The permitted components, outlined in Appendix 5 of the Technical Regulations, are granted transferrable status and thus can be sold/shared by supplier teams to their customers.

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With evolution expected to form the basis for the VCARB02, the final car to be produced by Faenza under the current regulations, understanding the impact of the suspension and gearbox change will prove critical to forming the basis for next year’s design.

VCARB’s ties to Red Bull have been strengthened over the past 12 months, with VCARB also set to leave its Bicester aerodynamic facility in order to move into a section of the Red Bull campus in Milton Keynes – the Faenza factory will remain unaffected by the aero department relocation.

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