Red Bull aiming to replace ‘Cold War relic’ wind tunnel by 2026،
Construction of a new Red Bull wind tunnel will begin next year, team principal Christian Horner has confirmed, with the team hoping to have it operational by 2026.
The new wind tunnel is set to be built at the team's factory in Milton Keynes and will replace the facility it currently uses near Bedford, which is more than 70 years old.
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Asked about progress on the new wind tunnel at a recent Christmas lunch with the media, team principal Horner said: “Wind tunnels being a thing of the future [in Formula One] Clearly, we had to move with the times and invest in a new wind tunnel. Work will begin in 2024.”
The new facility is expected to be completed by 2026, but Horner doubts it will have an impact on the team's competitiveness until 2027.
“You don’t want to introduce it mid-season, you have to designate a tunnel for the year, so it will probably be to do car 27.”
The origins of the team's current facility date back to 1947, when the United Kingdom's fledgling National Aeronautical establishment built a facility with four wind tunnels designed to test military and civilian aircraft in a range of speeds from 80 mph to Mach 5.
The tunnel that eventually became owned by Red Bull was originally designed to test aircraft at low speeds, including during takeoff and landing, and was used for the development of Concorde in the 1960s, among many other military projects. The Jaguar F1 team acquired a 123-year lease on the building in 2003 when the tunnel's previous occupants, Arrows, closed in 2002, meaning the facility was part of the deal when Red Bull bought Jaguar before its F1 debut in 2005.
Red Bull's use of the wind tunnel has been restricted by the FIA over the past year, partly due to F1's Aerodynamic Testing Regulations. [ATR]which limit testing capacity the higher a team is ranked in the constructors' championship, and partly due to Red Bull's penalty for exceeding F1's cost cap in 2021.
The penalty restriction expired in October this year, but Horner says the nature of the aging facility near Bedford, which was once considered one of the best wind tunnels in the world due to its concrete construction, presents a certain number of original limitations.
“Our allowance went up a little bit in October because we had served our time, which saved us seven percent of time,” he said. “But again, that's eight percent less than any other competitor [due to the ATR]. This is exactly how these regulations work.
“And particularly with the wind tunnel that we have, which is a relic of the Cold War and not particularly effective, particularly in cold weather, which we tend to have in the UK, we have to be very, very selective. And that's where the team has succeeded brilliantly in being really selective about the areas in which we channel our development.”
