Red Bull has revealed the cause of their improved Formula 1 engine performance vs. Mercedes at recent races.
The current championship leaders introduced their second power unit of 2021 at the French Grand Prix and have since enjoyed a 0.3s advantage over their main rivals on the straights, leading to wins for Max Verstappen.
In response, Lewis Hamilton and team boss Toto Wolff suggested that is because Red Bull got some kind of upgrade from their engine supplier Honda…
“It was a tough fight, they [Red Bull] have made a huge step forward with their power unit,” Wolff said after Mercedes’ first defeat at Circuit Paul Ricard earlier this month.
“Introduction of the second power unit, and their race car is good, no doubt about that. That’s why it’s a tough one this year.”
But that drew a sharp response from his Red Bull counterpart, Christian Horner.
“We’re not allowed to make progress, I don’t know what he’s referencing there,” he said, referencing how engine development is frozen for this year.
“I think that it’s the same specification as the first unit. We’ve run a much smaller rear wing, so that’s why the straight-line performance was strong.
“I think Honda is doing a great job, but we don’t see a sudden significant increase in power.”
Wolff though saw that reaction as “weird”, saying he was “surprised that the Red Bull guys keep protesting so loudly on the power unit story”.
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For an impartial view, Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto revealed why Red Bull is right to dismiss Mercedes’ suggestions of an engine upgrade.
“The performance of the Honda engine, looking at the GPS data, corresponds to the performance they had at the beginning of the season in Bahrain,” he stated.
“Then, they had to reduce performance due to reliability issues. I think by solving that, they are back to the standards they had at the start of the season.
“There has been no step forward. We, from Bahrain onwards, always had the same level of performance because the engine allowed us to run like that.
“So for Red Bull, it is not a question of having taken a step forward because that would not be allowed in the regulations.”
However, there is one area of engine development that is not frozen, oils and lubricants, and it is there that Red Bull are enjoying a boost in performance.
“We have a new oil from ExxonMobil, so I think they should take full credit for all Lewis’ pointing at the engine,” Horner explained. “The engines are homologated, it is the same spec.”
This new oil, which includes materials usually seen in cosmetics, allows Red Bull to run their power units at higher settings and with less heat protection, as the oil is designed to work at higher temperatures.
According to The Race, this has meant a 14 horsepower boost for Red Bull, which combined with the skinnier rear wing the team has used in recent races, results in the current speed advantage.