Red Bull and Max Verstappen secured a great victory to round off the 2022 season. Last year, the Milton Keynes side displayed a masterful performance on the track. But it now appears that F1 is hatching a cunning scheme to harm the Austrian team.

Formula 1 has used a combination of wind tunnel and CFD for almost 50 years to create quick and efficient vehicles that bring thrills and entertainment, but it now looks like the F1 is planning to become carbon neutral. One hotly contested issue in F1’s quest to meet its environmental standards and save costs for teams is whether it could do without wind tunnels by 2030.

The notion of just employing Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to construct cars has the support of eight of the ten teams. And most recently, we learned about the latest wind tunnel exploits of Aston Martin and McLaren. In an exclusive interview with Racingnews365, when Aaron Melvin, Haas’ chief of aerodynamics, was asked about whether the modification to this wind tunnel advantage will have an impact on the championship.

Aaron Melvin stated, “I don’t believe it’s intelligent, in terms of cost effectiveness. It’s good to have regulations and encourage us to push the limits of CFD capabilities. So I’d be very receptive to regulations that change the balance. But the industry is so good at wind tunnel testing, it’s not something that we need to ban, you certainly can phase it down to a much lower investment level.”

“But the industry can do very good wind tunnel testing. It’s not something that needs to be banned. Certainly, the level of investment could be phased out to much lower levels,” he added. So this seems that the dominant Red Bull is going to have a nightmare as in the past two years Christian Horner and co. seems to have enjoyed the perks of Wind tunnel.

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Since Red Bull was penalized for breaching the cost cap, there have been rumors that the team—despite winning the championship this year—may find it difficult to get off to a solid start in 2023. However, according to a former member of the Red Bull squad, the Austrian outfit is capable of handling the challenges.

An ex-Red Bull member believes the team will manage the difficulties posed by Wind Tunnel

The Austrian teams appear to be facing difficulties in the 2023 season. Due to Max Verstappen’s brilliance and the lack of sufficient opposition, the squad that triumphed last year with relative ease will face numerous challenges this year. The team was fined $7M for exceeding the cost cap, and as per FIA regulations. The championship-winning team receives the least amount of wind tunnel time, thus this year will undoubtedly be hard for the Milton Keynes side.

Additionally, the team’s fiercest opponent Mercedes and most recent foe Ferrari are rumored to get in better shape. The Challenges are just multiplied when all of these elements are considered. However, Dan Fallows, a former Red Bull head of aerodynamics who is currently employed for Aston Martin, told reporters, “I think, personally, I would take it as any other challenge that you get given in this business. It’s something you have to deal with. It’s a restriction.”

“They do have, as a result of being very successful, fewer wind tunnel runs and CFD capability than other teams anyway, and that’s just a challenge you have to deal with. I think in any situation like that you just regroup and get on with it,” he added.

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After the FIA has further lowered the budget cap, which might provide the smaller teams a chance to compete against the best, do you think we will have a new champion this year?