Formula 1 Racing

RB solved problems caused by Spanish Grand Prix “downgrade”

Daniel Ricciardo, RB, Silverstone, 2024

Daniel Ricciardo believes RB have a clear direction on their car development after the problems they encountered with the new parts they introduced at the Spanish Grand Prix.

The team ran a mixture of the old and new parts in Austria after experiencing problems with their new rear wing design in Spain.

“I would say for now the experimenting is done and we have both cars on the same stuff this week,” Ricciardo told media including RaceFans yesterday, confirming they will use a combination of “half, straight down the middle, new and old” parts this weekend.

The visible problem they experienced with rear wing flap movement was not their only cause for concern with the upgrade, Ricciardo admitted. “We brought quite a bit to Barcelona and some good things, some not so,” he said.

“We at least have more confidence coming into this weekend that we’ve got currently our best package and should be pretty straightforward now,” he added.

Ricciardo confirmed the new parts had not performed exactly as the team’s simulations predicted. “Obviously correlation, on-track, wind tunnel, all these things have to obviously correlate perfectly,” he said. “And that’s where obviously we didn’t quite get on track what we thought we’d get compared to what they saw in the data.”

Before the season began RB said it would follow parent team Red Bull’s design lead more closely following its rebranding. Prior to the problems they experienced in Spain, Ricciardo was pleased with the team’s progress so far this season.

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“It’s not unlikely to have some downgrades through the season,” he said, “they’re not, unfortunately, all upgrades. But up until that point, I felt everything we were putting on the car worked and was giving us performance.

“So of course [saying] that ‘oh, it didn’t work’, it’s also understanding why it didn’t work so that what we bring moving forward is obviously going to benefit us. So [there’s] a little bit of understanding to take place. But at least we have confidence that we now have currently the best parts of the car.”

RB confirmed one of the changes it will evaluate this weekend is the removal of the winglet on top of its Halo.

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