Are Audi in the Fight with Alpine and Racing Bulls?
Audi are the latest global manufacturer to enter F1 with their own in-house Power Unit and chassis.
It is easy to underestimate the monumental engineering challenge involved in such a project. Yet Audi are currently ahead of their own pre-season expectations.
Let’s look at their qualifying performance compared with the fastest car in each session:
Race | Qualifying gap |
|---|---|
Australia | +1.703 s |
Monaco | +1.851 s |
Sepang | +2.543 s |
The last number does not tell the full story.
Audi are the only current F1 team with limited data from the previous Sepang race in 2017, and they had less than seven weeks to prepare specifically for this event.
So the bigger gap in Sepang was hardly surprising.
The more interesting question is what happens from here.
With more data, more development and more experience, Audi have joined Alpine and Racing Bulls in the midfield fight and the next few races should tell us just how close they really are. 🏎️🔋
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What Is the Budget Cap Trap?
According to Williams Team Principal James Vowles, the budget cap has created an uneven playing field for his team.
What does he mean?
Simply put, the big teams built their factories, simulators and technical infrastructure before the budget cap was introduced. Today, much of their spending can go directly into improving the car.
Williams, meanwhile, still have to invest heavily in upgrading their infrastructure — but those investments also count towards the budget cap.
So does Vowles have a point?
Yes and no.
No, because Williams have been underinvesting in their infrastructure for at least 20 years. That is not something other teams can be blamed for.
And Williams are not alone in upgrading their facilities. Aston Martin, Audi, Haas and Cadillac are all investing heavily in infrastructure too.
So the budget cap alone cannot explain Williams’ problems.
But yes, because some of the current budget-cap rules can be exploited by the biggest teams through accounting and structural advantages.
Two obvious examples are driver salaries and the compensation of senior technical personnel — arguably two of the biggest performance differentiators in modern F1, yet largely outside the effective spending restrictions.
Until these loopholes are addressed, we probably won’t see the full equalising effect the budget cap was supposed to deliver.
And that is the real budget cap trap. 🏎️💰
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Are Max and Red Bull Back at the Front?
Most probably, yes.
Red Bull appear to be carrying the momentum from Baku and Sepang into Singapore, and there are good reasons to believe this is not simply track-specific form.
Sepang is a complex circuit, somewhat similar to Barcelona, and performance there is often a good indicator of how a car will behave across a wide range of track characteristics.
Combine that with Red Bull’s very strong performance in Baku, and the picture starts to become clearer.
One of the most impressive aspects of the recent races has been Red Bull’s straight-line speed — and there appear to be three important reasons behind it:
1. Engine performance
Race data consistently shows impressive top-end power from the ICE, particularly after the battery has been depleted and the MGU-K is no longer providing electrical deployment.
2. Aero efficiency
The top speed does not appear to be simply the result of running lower downforce. Red Bull seem capable of generating competitive cornering performance while still maintaining exceptional straight-line speed.
3. The rotating rear wing
This may be the most interesting part.
Our analysis suggests that Red Bull’s concept is significantly more efficient than the similar solutions used by Ferrari and McLaren, particularly with its much larger opening gap.
After addressing the dangerous closing behaviour and the transition between low and high aerodynamic loads on the rear axle in Austria and Silverstone, Red Bull now appear to be fast across a much wider range of circuits.
Singapore will be a very interesting test of that theory.
Let’s see. 🏎️🔋
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All images and videos used in The Fastest Lap Newsletter are our own or have been provided by our partners, including https://www.spasgp.com/
The Fastest Lap Newsletter is an independent project and is not affiliated with Formula 1 or any F1 team.
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Tomorrow, best. 🏎️