Red Bull is ahead with its new wind tunnel

More than on schedule, Red Bull is even ahead of schedule in the construction of its new wind tunnel in Milton Keynes. This is what its technical director Pierre Waché indicated during an interview with Motorsport.com.

A centerpiece of the design and development of a Formula 1 car, the wind tunnel continues to play a major role for the teams while on-track testing is today drastically limited and it is necessary to rely on fluid dynamics (CFD) and on simulators.

It is therefore not surprising to see the teams making great financial and human efforts to equip themselves with the latest generation wind tunnels and, above all, capable of offering the best possible correlation with the behavior of the single-seaters on the track. Since the summer of 2023, McLaren has been able to count on a brand new wind tunnel in Woking, saving it from using Toyota's in Cologne. Aston Martin has undertaken a similar investment for its new factory at Silverstone.

In Bedford, not far from Milton Keynes, Red Bull uses a dated tool which is increasingly showing its limits compared to the competition, since its wind tunnel was put into service for the first time more than 70 years ago! It was originally designed for aircraft development at the end of World War II.

“It’s the oldest wind tunnel in F1”agrees Pierre Waché Motorsport.com. “I even discussed it with Jos [Verstappen] the other day: they were already using this wind tunnel when he was at Arrows [chez qui il roulait en F1 au début des années 2000]. This is an old tool that we have updated. There's a lot of newer stuff in there, but we have limits.”

“We know them and we try to get around them, but it clearly becomes more difficult when you are looking for a little extra performance. That is why we are investing in the new wind tunnel. We believe that it can give us advantages that we don't have with the current model.”

Building and then calibrating a new wind tunnel is work that takes time and is part of a very long-term approach. While knowing this initial situation, Red Bull now believes that it is ahead of its initial schedule, with the hope of starting to use its new tool during next year. “Indeed, it will be around this time”confirms Pierre Waché.

“With the construction work and then the arrival of all the new machines, you never know when it will happen, but we are currently ahead of schedule”specifies the French engineer. “We are three months ahead of the initial plan. The guys do a really good job, but you never know if there are going to be delays elsewhere. It’s a large-scale project.”

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