Red Bull RB8 © http://www.redbullracing.com
February 6th 2012
There is no doubting that the RB8 is probably the most anticipated car of the 2012 season. With the regulation changes regarding nose height it was interesting to see how Adrian Newey, designer of the RB6 and RB7 which both won the world championship, had interpreted the rules. Red Bull opted for an online launch of their 2012 challenger rather than unveiling the car at the Jerez track like Sauber.
Questions and answers continued
Q. Does recent success add to the pressure to maintain it or to lessen it, as you have continuity?
Adrian Newey: The last two years have been really good, really successful, and it has been an incredible journey to get there. Fourth evolution of the RB5 this year so obviously pressure to try and stay there if we possibly can. Difficult task – we have lost the exhaust technology, with the restriction of exhaust outlet position, that we were able to develop and perhaps be ahead of the pack over the past couple of years and that took a big rethink over the winter. Whether that will effect us more than other people, it is difficult to know of course. We designed the RB7, last year’s car, around that exhaust position and were probably the only people to do so, so it may be that we have lost more than other people through that… only time will tell. It will be good to get out in testing and see where we get to.
Q. Do you find restrictions frustrating or more of a challenge?
AN: Regulation restrictions, like the loss of exhausts, are a bit frustrating in truth because they are exactly that: restrictions. They are not giving you opportunities or avenues particularly – they are just closing a door. Regulation changes I enjoy, regulation restrictions I rather lament.
Q. How have you coped with the removal of the exhaust blown diffuser for RB8?
AN: RB7, as I said, was designed around the exhausts. This year, knowing that that exhaust position from last year has been taken away, we have had to go back and look at how we had developed the car through the last, somewhere between, one and two years, with the side exit exhaust and try and make sure, if you like, that routes we had taken were only suitable for that position. We now have to re-evaluate. One of the key things though has been the rear ride height – the exhaust allowed us to run a very high rear ride height. It is much more difficult without that to sustain the rear ride height, so we have to go back down – we have to redevelop the car around that lower height.
Q. The other major change is the height of the nose. Did that present difficulties?
AN: The restriction nose height, which is a maximum height just in front of the front bulkhead, hasn’t really changed the chassis shape very much. We have kept more or less the same chassis shape but had to drop the nose just in front of the front bulkhead which, in common with many other teams, has lead to this, I think we’ll say, slightly ugly looking nose. We have tried to style it as best we can but it is not a feature we would choose to put in, were it not for the regulation.
Q. Would you say RB8 is still an evolution of RB7 or did you have to rethink many aspects?
AN: I would say the RB8 is the fourth generation of what started as the 2009 car – the RB5 – so I guess this is the great grandson of that car.
Q. Do you simply hate to lose or is the thing that keeps you coming back the process of solving the design puzzle created by the regulations?
AN: Being lucky enough, through my career, to have had a good amount of success, people have often asked am I going to retire soon or whatever. The answer is, as long as I keep enjoying it then I would like to keep going. What really fascinates me about it, is the technical challenge, the fact that we have moved to a very high fast pace, so every two weeks we are out being evaluated, so if you’re doing well it’s great, but if you’re doing poorly it is painful. At least you know where you are and you get to see the product of your work very quickly. So, I really enjoy working with my colleagues, my fellow engineers here at Milton Keynes, with the drivers of course at the track. It is a job that has many facets and many varieties, but you always get that immediate feedback and that is what really motivates me about the job.
Q. In Sebastian you’ve got a driver who seems to be getting even better. What do you expect from this season?
AN: I think we have a great driver line up. Sebastian, obviously double world champion now. I think he matured tremendously through last year and in 2010 he drove a great season, showed immense talent and thoroughly deserved to be world champion at the end of it. It was a rocky year – he was a very young lad, he showed incredible determination and ability to learn from his mistakes. Like all people he made mistakes through that year but he never made them twice, and I think that ability to learn from his mistakes and to always be searching and trying to improve, really showed in his driving last year. He really made no mistakes last year. He was aggressive when he needed to be, he was patient when he needed to be, really showed incredible maturity and there’s no reason to think that won’t continue.
Q. And in Mark you have a driver with a point to make after a difficult 2011. Do you think Mark will find RB8 an easier task than RB7?
AN: Mark had a rocky ride last year. Through 2010 he had a very good season – he was unlucky in many ways not to be world champion at the end of the year. 2011 he initially struggled a little bit to understand how to use the Pirelli tyres – took him time to adapt to them. He’s had a great winter, he is tremendously fit and he’s really looking forward to the start of the season. I think he’ll be one to look out for this year I hope.
Q. Is part of what keeps you coming back the process of evolving this team? Is it still a work in progress?
AN: The team is still a relatively young team and we’ve come a long way in a very short period and had a great deal of success over the last two or three years. We still occasionally show our youth, we still occasionally make mistakes which hopefully is like the swan: looks graceful on the top but has a lot of action going on underneath. So, we’re still learning but I think the fact we are a young team with tremendous spirit and determination is great – it means that we do learn, it means that do try to evaluate and continually criticise ourselves and see how we can improve. I would hope that, with the confidence of the last few years and our steady improvement, we can keep maintaining and we can keep learning.
Q. How do you approach that moment of first dropping the car on track? Are you quietly confident or is there a dread of what other teams will bring?
AN: People often ask, just before the new car runs, what is the expectation for this year, and my answer is always, I have absolutely no idea. We know what we have done through the winter, we know how we have developed the car, but we have no idea what everyone else has done, with the regulation changes and restrictions it is quite a different game to the end of last year. Have we made as much improvement as others? More, less? It’s impossible to know. There is always the trepidation when we start pre-season testing, and pre-season testing itself is very difficult to read from. If we are hopelessly uncompetitive to another team then we will probably realise it. If there are two or three of us who look broadly similar then it will be very difficult to pick actually who is the quickest out of those. So, it won’t be until we get to Melbourne qualifying that we really get more of a feel for it.
Q. Finally, how does the OBE feel?
AN: To be recognised by the Queen with an OBE is very flattering. I’m particularly proud of the fact that it is for engineering achievements. I think so often engineers in the UK are overlooked, and that’s a shame, given our proud roots through the Victorian era, developing industry and technology engineering. Real pride actually that I have been awarded that and a tremendous thank you to everybody who feels that’s been appropriate. I’ve had an enormously enjoyable career and to be recognised as an engineer gives a very good feeling!
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