Red Bull forced to change engine mapping for Budapest

The FIA ​​decided that the engine mapping settings used by Red Bull in Germany gave the world champion team an aerodynamic advantage and therefore banned the use of this configuration for the upcoming GO of Hungary.

According to the AAP news agency, the International Automobile Federation has in fact confirmed the doubt had by Jo Bauer, one of its officials, before the Hockenheim race and has clarified the technical regulations which had in fact allowed the use of the exhaust gases to gain an aerodynamic advantage, similar to the blown diffusers allowed last year and banned this season. In fact, the cars of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber had a special mapping that allowed them to run with reduced torque at half power. This, however, was perceived by the FIA ​​as an illegal advantage in performance: the clarification of article 5.5.3 in the F1 technical regulations requires that teams are required to provide as a reference a map of the engine they used during the first four GPs this season to be approved by the same governing body. Once approved by the FIA, the torque curves of the engine above 6 thousand rpm must not vary more than 2% from that reference mapping. Teams will be allowed to make specific requests for changes when races take place in "exceptional weather conditions".

Red Bull still have no official reaction to the new ruling, but managing director Jonathan Neale spoke for McLaren, saying he could not quantify the impact the clarification would have on Red Bull's performance. “I honestly don't know the answer”, Neale said. “What happened in Germany with Bauer was rather unusual. I don't think the FIA ​​would have referred to this rule unless they had very serious concerns. We cannot know or say exactly what the Renault engine is doing over Red Bull and therefore the amount of advantage they gain from it. But I know we're not the only ones on the grid who are watching this very carefully.", Neale closed.

Lorena Bianchi