© Getty ImagesWhat The Tech? Pre-Season TestingIn the first of a new series, Red Bull Racing Honda Technical Director, Pierre Wache, talks to "What The Tech?” about pre-season testing.
SoPierre,telluswhat’snewfor2021?
What is new for 2021? That’s a small question but a big answer! We have a lot of carryover this year, by regulation the main structure of the car didn’t change and we, like all teams, have used parts from last year hence the name RB16B. 2021 also sees lots of technical rule changes, the FIA changed some parts of the aero regulations to reduce the load of the car, included changes on the floor, on the rear brake ducts and some small adjustments on the barge boards.
On top of that, F1 now has a budget cap. That has a massive effect on the sport and the front running teams. The way we work and the way we develop the car has to be more efficient in all areas of the business.
AreweseeingthedownforcelossesthatF1implementedwiththenewsetofregulations–orisittoosoontosay?
Yes, we saw some downforce losses, and most of the change on top of the loss affect the aero characteristic and how you should operate the car.
Tellmeaboutthetyrecompounds,aretheyhugelydifferentthisyear?
No, the compound is similar, from what we know from Pirelli – but the casing changes. The utilisation of the tyre and the response of it are different. The purpose from Pirelli was to have better durability and better usage of the tyre. With all these combinations, new technical regs, new tyre and also on top of that even more constraint due to the financial regs, your preference will be to do a completely new car. And finally, we had some constraints on top of that because we have to carry over the chassis and most of the car.
Final Checks For Checo© Vladimir Rys
ChecoisnewtotheTeamthisyear,howvaluableisittogethisfeedbackonthecar?
We value Sergio’s feedback a lot. I worked with him when he started Formula One in the Sauber team. His feedback and his capacity to drive the car, especially in long runs; how he’s managing very well the pace and reducing the degradation. Clearly his current feedback on the handling of the car, and the experience he had with a completely different car concept previously was valuable for us and interesting to understand.
FromfinishingtestingtoFP1,thereareonly11days.Whatdevelopmentcanyourealisticallyachieveinsuchashortperiod?
Honestly, the process of development for FP1 in Bahrain starts after Day One of the test. We don't wait for the session to end on Sunday. We tested many parts throughout the three days and tried to understand what is working and what is not working with the car. We guide the process of development in terms of direction, and we try to have some minor updates for Race One.
We also have the drivers working in the simulator to correlate with the track and see how we can improve the situation with the tools we have inside the car, or in our set-up, to help us achieve a better balance. When you see something perform a certain way on track and you say ‘oh, I can fix that’, go to the simulator, make changes on the mechanical side and see if it helps or not.
Hondahaveworkedincrediblyhardoverwinter,andExxonMobilhavelaunchedanewfuelforthisseason.Haveyouseenanimprovementinperformance?
On the full car dyno we use, we see already some early signs of performance gain compared to last year. I think it is a combination of the engine development plus the ExxonMobil fuel. I’m sure all teams and power units have made gains so we do not know if it put us ahead of anyone at this stage but we are very grateful for the work our partners have put in over the winter. Now we can only hope that the combination with the RB16B chassis is strong enough to take on the best in this engineering race.
