Do rivals have hope against F1's greatest escape artists?

OPINION: A breach of Formula 1's cost cap in 2021 meant that Red Bull lost a percentage of wind tunnel usage that should have brought it closer to its rivals. Instead, the Milton Keynes squad has dominated, and with its punishment now served, could well be even stronger going forward

Updated Nov 2, 2023, 10:17 AM

If ever there was a year when Red Bull needed to produce the most dominant car in its history, then it was 2023. Having been found guilty last year of a breach of the cost cap en route to its 2021 drivers' title with Max Verstappen, it knew that this season was going to be a tough one with a 10% wind tunnel/aero development penalty.

Indeed, the projected numbers that it was facing as it headed into last winter did not look great. According to F1's Sporting Regulations, Red Bull as constructors' champions should have been allowed 70% of the full wind tunnel running, which equates to 224 runs, for the first half of 2023.

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Author Jonathan Noble

Jonathan Noble is Motorsport.com’s Formula 1 editor. Having graduated from University of Sussex Jonathan worked for sports news agency Collings Sports reporting on F1, F3, touring cars and other sports, with articles appearing in The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, Reuters, Autosport and other publications. In 1999 he moved to Haymarket Publishing to become a senior editor at Autosport Special Projects, and one year later he became Autosport’s grand prix editor. In 2015 he moved to Motorsport Network, becoming the F1 editor for Motorsport.com. He is also a member of the Guild of Motoring Writers, and sits on the FIA Media Council.

Jonathan has won multiple awards for journalism - in 1991 he was the winner of the Guild of Motoring Writers’ Sir William Lyons’ Award for young journalists, in 2010 he was awarded the Outstanding Individual accolade for consumer journalism in the Haymarket wards, in 2011 he won Haymarket’s Scoop of the Year, and in 2018 he was awarded a prestigious Medaglia d’Oro at the Lorenzo Bandini Awards for his contribution to F1 journalism.