Are Red Bull vroomed?

22/07/2012

10 Comments

 
Yeah, yeah. Vroomed and doomed is a bit of a stretch, but I don't care. I need more coffee, I hate German trains that lie about where they're going, and now there's DRAMA! in the paddock. So I shall take my crappy puns where I can find them, and YOU WILL LOVE IT.

Anyway, looks like Red Bull have been playing around with their engine mapping, if the above note from FIA technical delegate Jo Bauer is to be believed. And it is - Bauer's job is to be right about such things.

So by fiddling around with their engine mappings - something I thought the standardised ECU was supposed to prevent, but whatever - Red Bull appear to have gained an aerodynamic advantage that Bauer thought it worth pointing out to the stewards for consideration.

There's still a lot more to come from this story, and a lot of questions to be asked:
  • are Red Bull guilty as charged?
  • how long have they been doing it if they are guilty?
  • what sort of penalties will they face?
If this is one weekend of naughty behaviour, my guess is that their qualifying results will be stricken from the record, a la Hamilton in Barcelona, and both drivers will start from the back of Sunday's grid.

But if this is a long-term thing that the FIA have only just picked up, the worst case scenario for the team is an exclusion from the constructors' championship, as happened to McLaren in 2007.

The report - which you can read by clicking on the photo above to see in full-size - implies we're looking at a one-off offense.
 


Comments

goferet
22/07/2012 11:45

Oooo drama, drama, drama ~ I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!

For sure Red Bull have been doing something dirty for they were lost out at sea during qualifying so much so that the Wunderkid wasn't even bothering to set times.

And all over a sudden, we see a rocket in Valencia pulling over a second a lap on the competition, all this in what should have been an extra close season ~ No Sir!!!

Matter of fact, if it wasn't for the rain, Red Bull would have clinched pole at both Silverstone & Hockenheim.

Thank goodness for the smart folks in F1 that always look beyond the lights & cameras.

As for the punishment (we all know they're guilty) I think Red Bull will just get fined for isn't it too late to throw them at the back of the grid.

As for losing all constructors points, well that punishment is only reserved to the super cheats, so no, Red Bull will be safe in this regard.

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Kate link
22/07/2012 12:02

I don't think the official grid has been published yet, which means the FIA can send them to the back if they deem it's the appropriate punishment. (Assuming that the stewards deem them guilty, of course.)

Protests need to happen within a certain time of the FIA's official publication, but I think that's teams only. If the stewards or technical delegate spot an anomaly, they can act upon it immediately - that's why they're here.

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goferet
22/07/2012 12:09

I see, thanks for the clarification.

As a Lewis fan, we definitely need Red Bull at the back

Kate link
22/07/2012 12:43

I have to say - right now, with no new info from the stewards, this is mostly guesswork.

elephino
23/07/2012 10:09

Wouldn't have mattered if the grid had been published. They're within their rights to produce an updated version if needs be.

Kate link
23/07/2012 13:20

Actually, it does matter. There's difference between provisional and official classifications for exactly that reason - protests are locked down to a timeframe relating to the official classification of any session.

elephino
25/07/2012 05:04

Yes, but as you said above, that is in relation to protests.

If Red Bull had been excluded, the timeframe would have started from the exclusion rather than the session as it was not linked to a specific session. It's unrelated to the grid per se as that can be updated even after the official version is released (e.g. if a gearbox is changed just before the race then a new grid would be required with the appropriate penalty applied - either rear of grid or pit lane start, I can't remember which).

Kate link
25/07/2012 17:34

Yes, and the RBR thing was totally unrelated to protests of any sort. I kow-tow to your superior knowledge and access.

Leigh Woolford
22/07/2012 11:49

Is that some kind of off throttle exhaust blowing thing? I've been hearing for a while that they sound like they are doing that. @f1photographer (Darren Heath) is convinced that both they and Ferrari are doing this! He has tewweted it on numerous occasions and he gets to hear the cars close up, a lot!

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Kate link
22/07/2012 11:57

Yeah, that's about the long and the short of it.

I think Darren's suspicions might have been vindicated, although Bauer's note implies it's only been a problem at this weekend. I don't know how they'd be able to do historic checks - I presume the telemetry can't show too much, or the stewards would have picked up on this ages ago.

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