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Former F1 driver and long-time TV pundit Martin Brundle has designated Red Bull Racing as the “clear favourites” for the win going into the 2022 season opener in Bahrain this weekend.
Speaking in an interview with Sky Sports F1 following the conclusion of the Bahrain pre-season testing, Brundle said:
“Red Bull for me came away as the clear favourites. I have absolutely no doubts in my mind that the aero package on the RB18 took a significant step forward. They have moved the game on today in terms of raw pace, long-run pace. They’ve been smiling all day. I think the pieces they put on the car suddenly made the whole car look better.”
With chief rival Mercedes struggling to understand their radical car, Brundle feels the Austrian team have momentum on their side heading into the first race of the season. He, however, also felt it would be unwise to discount other teams, especially Ferrari.
Red Bull’s late Bahrain upgrade reportedly netted nearly 2 seconds of performance
The significant upgrade package brought by Red Bull on the final day of Bahrain pre-season testing reportedly yielded nearly 2 seconds' worth of performance.
According to the team’s special advisor Helmut Marko, the upgrade to the RB18’s floor reportedly helped the team significantly cut down on understeer while extracting more downforce. Speaking to Auto Motor und Sport following the conclusion of testing, the Austrian said:
“The upgrade gave us more than half a second. We were able to reduce the understeer disproportionately. The correlation between wind tunnel and racetrack is better than expected.”
At the Barcelona test, the RB18 seemed less than optimal, with the team struggling to get the car working properly. While the team didn’t face any major reliability issues, they seemed to struggle for performance.
In Bahrain, they seemed to have fixed some of the car’s issues including porpoising, but the drivers struggled with understeer. On day three of testing, the team brought in a new floor, along with a revised sidepod design. This seemed to have markedly improved the car’s performance, with Max Verstappen lighting up the timesheets in the final minutes of testing.
