Red Bull is one of only two teams bringing new components to the Singapore Grand Prix, and the front wing update will help put more pressure on McLaren.
Max Verstappen scored back-to-background prixes at Monza and Baku, bringing a floor upgrade in Italy in line with Red Bull. This weekend in Singapore, the front wing development is designed as a “design evolution that will do further research to extract more loads while maintaining flow stability.”
Chief engineer Paul Monaghan says after Red Bull introduced the final front wing, he saw more opportunities and decided to spend more resources at his disposal to get to the car soon.
“We want to extract a little more lap time from there,” Monaghan said. “It’s a pretty subtle fix because it’s for us. But the last one was released, so it became clear that we could do this and that we could do it.
“This should be the last of the year. There may be flap trims for Vegas or something like that. But otherwise, it’s a bit of performance and a great job in the factory and we have it here.
“This is like a futures gambling now, right? What do I say to you, come and see me on Sunday, I tell you!
“Obviously our aim is to extract a little more lap time and we hope we’ve put in a fierce effort. The car is better. Now the question is, can we try our previous orders from the high downforce circuit?
The nature of the Singapore Circuit is very different from the recent success of Verstappen.
The Monza floor update is considered a potentially important item given Verstappen’s victory, and Monaghan says he has allowed the team to make the entire car work better.
“From an expectation perspective, it almost gave us what we expected. Nothing said, ‘Oh, my goodness, this is much better than we thought.’ That was behaving in itself.
“What we’re at the top is the perfect action of the car. We learned things and found new aero parts, new bodywork surfaces and other combinations.
“So it’s not just one, it’s a combination of many small changes that picked up a bit of pace, and it’s not that big. Looking at lap time quarantine in a 60-lap race looks a bit difficult, but a very small profit for corner-by. If Red Bull is competitive, it could show a significant switch in the title photo, but Monaghan says the outcome of the race won’t affect the team’s future motivations.
“It would give us a good confidence boost and perhaps a bit of massage. If, so to speak, it really works out here.
“All kinds of things can happen here. You can move to one turn and pan out. I remember the confusion as Cebu (Vettel) footage arrives with some Ferraris. I’ll do my best here. I’ll extract what I can do from the car.”
In addition to the front wing upgrade, Red Bull also has a more efficient cooling solution inside the engine cover, but Mercedes is the only other team to submit new components to the FIA.