Christian Horner 'fascinated' by variance of solutions to F1 changes

Perez, Red Bull, Testing — Photo: © LAT Images

Christian Horner

Horner 'fascinated' by variance of solutions to F1 changes

Development is set to be a big player in 2022

Ian Parkes & Topher Smith

Thursday 3 March 2022 08:00

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner is 'fascinated' by the level of variance between teams after the first week of pre-season testing in Spain.

The new-for-2022 regulations have seen a change to the appearance of F1 cars due to a change in aerodynamic philosophy for the sport, with teams producing different design interpretations ahead of the new season.

With the grid coming together for the first time this year at the pre-season test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Horner was intrigued by the various looks for the new cars but predicted huge evolution across the course of the season.

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"It’s always interesting to see the cars for the first time, particularly with such a big regulation change," said Horner.

"And in what are pretty prescriptive regulations, to have such variance, it’s fascinating to see how the teams are interpreting these rules.

“Of course, there will be convergence over a period of time, but you’ve certainly got some very varied themes between the teams.

"It is going to be fascinating to see how that plays out because I’m sure as the cars progress through the season, they will probably look very different by the time we get to Abu Dhabi."

Allocation of time important in development

F1 will see the effects of the aerodynamic testing sliding scale for the first time this year as teams that perform well during the season will be penalised wind tunnel and CFD time.

For the upcoming season as an example, Mercedes will have 45 per cent less time for aerodynamic testing compared to Haas, with five per cent increments separating the rest of the grid in between.

When asked about the effects of the aerodynamic testing regulations, Horner stated that the bigger issue is the cost cap and how it affects what the team is able to do.

“It’s certainly something internally that I haven’t heard any noise about at all but it’s not the amount of time that you have, it’s how you use that time, how you apply your resource.

“And, of course, what we have had the last couple of years which is a far bigger constraint, is the cost cap that largely dictates what you can do or what you can afford to do.

“I think it is marginal. I don’t think it’s going to create a sway between being a significant advantage to teams outside of the top three.”