While the rest of the leading teams (Mercedes, McLaren F1, Ferrari…) have already revealed the presentation dates for their new single-seaters for the 2022 F1 season, we only know about the Red Bull car that it will be called RB18.
The Austrian team played for the title until literally the last race of last year, and despite the speech, it was clear that they continued to work on the 2021 car until the end. Although the big teams are supposed to have enough resources to work on two parallel programs, there are those who point to a certain delay in this year’s F1 as the reason that there is still no presentation date.
That theory would make some sense with information from our colleagues at the Italian edition of Motorsport.com that Red Bull failed the mandatory FIA crash test on the front end of its new car. A small setback for Adrian Newey ‘s team, but far from a drama.
In fact, from Milton Keynes they have leaked that the Red Bull RB18 , at least in the simulator, has already reached the performance of the world champion RB16B with Max Verstappen.
The new technical regulations for Formula 1 2022 require an almost complete review of the cars compared to previous seasons. The objective is, at the same time to give a new futuristic look to the single-seaters, to simplify the aerodynamic structures and generate part of the grip through the ground effect , to favor the show and allow the drivers to follow each other closely without losing performance.
Although the technical rules carry many limitations, in a way the teams have been left with a blank sheet of paper, and at Red Bull they are famous for finding what others do not even imagine.
Until the pre-season tests arrive at the end of February, the teams continue fine-tuning their projects, and after manufacturing, comes the phase of undergoing the crash tests imposed by the FIA for its homologation and use on the track.
The piece that would not have passed the test would be the nose of the Red Bull RB18 , in the deformable structure that is the first to come into contact with an object or obstacle in the event of a frontal collision, and that would not have met the criteria set. The tests were carried out at the Cranfield Impact Center in Great Britain, a center specialized in the matter and approved by the FIA.
The team led by the genius Newey is an expert in finding extreme solutions and at the limit of the regulation, but this problem would only require a simple reinforcement of the part and not a complete redesign, so the energy drink team has not been turned on , far from it, the alarms.
In fact, it is not the first season that Red Bull has failed the first frontal impact test.
The Red Bull RB18 is one of the most intriguing, since Verstappen will defend the title with it and technically the best of his cars is always expected. Rumors suggest that the team would have decided to opt for a single-seater with the maximum wheelbase (3,600 mm) , in the Mercedes style, since the 2022 regulations would invite to lengthen the long rear part to maximize the size of the pontoons (under which the ground effect must be generated) and have a rather short front part.
A 2022 F1 concept, no real, from Red Bull
