Red Bull is tipped to finally debut the so-called ‘short nose’ version of its 2015 car at the forthcoming Spanish grand prix.
“The modified car is arguably an RB11 ‘B’,” declared Spain’s El Mundo Deportivo. The former world champions, who have struggled so far in 2015 with both the car and its Renault ‘power unit’, made multiple attempts to pass the mandatory FIA crash tests with the very short nose that is now expected to debut in Barcelona. Speed Week claims Red Bull in fact failed the tests “several dozen” times.
El Mundo said the modified Red Bull will be shorter even than other short-nosed designs on the grid like the Mercedes and Williams, making it “very difficult to copy”. Speed Week continued: “Red Bull is hoping for an improvement that brings it in line with Ferrari.”
Paddy Lowe, the technical boss at Mercedes, says the role being played by aerodynamics in the new ‘turbo V6’ era has been underestimated. “So much is spoken about the power units and the energy recovery,” he is quoted as saying, “but I do not think aerodynamics have played a minor role.” And Toro Rosso technical chief James Key added: “The short nose was the most difficult part of my work on the 2015 car.”
