Formula 1 racing team Red Bull has stepped up in the engine dispute with the world motorsport association. Team boss Laurent Mekies emphasized in Barcelona that, according to their own data, their own engine was in no way more powerful than that of industry leader Mercedes.
The FIA’s engine analysis and the associated “upgrade gifts” for some teams continue to be a topic of conversation in Formula 1.
In its measurements, the world association came to the conclusion that Red Bull’s combustion engine is the most powerful in the entire field.
This gives the competition the opportunity to upgrade their engines “for free”. Red Bull has lodged an objection and doubts the FIA’s results.
Red Bull: “We have no advantage over Mercedes”
“We don’t see a single data example in which we see ourselves better or permanently ahead of the competition,” RB team boss Laurent Mekies added to “motorsport.com”. The person responsible called for further exchanges with the FIA and emphasized again that they had “no advantage over our friends from Mercedes”.
The case is particularly explosive because Red Bull could end up as a big loser. If the measurement results remain the same, Mercedes and Co. will receive one or two upgrades worth $3.5 million from the FIA. These costs would not be included in the so-called cost gap. If Red Bull upgrades its engine, the costs would be deducted from the budget. That would be a million-dollar disadvantage.
Why the case is keeping Formula 1 on its toes
What makes things even more spicy is that the FIA only measures the performance of the combustion engine (ICE), but the electrical output plays no role. Mercedes and the other teams could theoretically use their “free upgrade” without affecting ICE performance. The next FIA measurement would then come to the same result – and give the Red Bull competition the next gifts.
This is particularly fatal for Mekies and Red Bull because pure combustion engine performance does not play an equally important role on all routes.
“We come to Canada on an ICE-sensitive track and come sixth in qualifying. We come to Monaco on a less ICE-sensitive track and end up 0.04 seconds behind the pole. We come to Barcelona, again an ICE-sensitive track, and we come sixth again,” said the person responsible, describing the problem.
At least Red Bull has already achieved a small partial success with its complaint. The FIA announced that it wanted to check its measurement results again. The result of this analysis is still pending.