Red Bull Racing sure of making first 2012 test with new car
Adrian Newey is confident that Red Bull Racing is on target to make the first pre-season test on February 7 with its 2012 car
Mercedes recently confirmed that it would be missing the opening test, but the Red Bull chief technical officer expects his team to be ready.
"The schedule is to make the first test," he said when asked about progress on the RB8 by AUTOSPORT. "As always, it will be tight but I'd be very disappointed if it was not."
Newey admitted that the one potential pitfall was new regulations forcing teams to pass all FIA crash tests before they started testing.
Previously, teams only had to pass the tests before the first race weekend, but the 2012 rules mean that every team has had to bring forward its schedule.
"One thing that is different this year is that we have to pass all of the crash tests before we are allowed to test," said Newey. "For everyone, that is going to be a bit of a concern because sometimes something unexpected can happen.
"This time around, if something unexpected happens and it's too severe, then it could be the first test you miss and it could roll on to the second and third. But apart from that, it's just about getting out and getting on with it."
Share Or Save This Story
Did Bianchi have potential to become F1 world champion?
Autosport 75: Kubica's road to recovery and beyond
Autosport 75: When Red Bull had its own intra-team fight like Norris vs Piastri
Formula 1: The groundbreaking women who drove in F1
Friday favourite: When a GP2 race winner “ate steering wheel” in Alpine's F1 winner
The potential pitfalls Mercedes is working to counter in 2021
"You're not allowed to make a difference" – Verstappen says the fastest F1 drivers are penalised
The Red Bull seat nobody is talking about – and why that's the biggest compliment of all
What Red Bull's succession plans for Lambiase and Marko reveal about team's F1 future
Formula E Tokyo E-Prix: Ticktum pulls off last-lap overtake on Dennis for victory
F1 Hungarian GP: Norris beats Hamilton to top final practice
BTCC Thruxton: Proctor substitutes for unwell Osborne, Smiley tops practice
LIVE: F1 Hungarian GP updates - Norris beats Hamilton to top FP3 after red flag for Perez stoppage
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments