Red Bull in no rush to use new wind-tunnel

The former DERA facility has undergone a massive revamp since it was originally acquired by Jaguar and, although that work is now finished, Red Bull Racing's Ben Agathangelou has insisted that the team will actually benefit from not rushing it into action.

Instead, the team will continue using their current facility in Bicester for work on the RB2 while the Bedford tunnel will only be brought into action later next year to help with developments of the 2006 car - by which time Adrian Newey will be working for the outfit.

"The new wind tunnel is commissioned but it is not ready for use yet," said Agathangelou. "In fact, the most important thing for me is we are not using it.

"The answer is to use it when it's ready and not before. We are taking our time to understand it and you also need to gear up the department to run a second wind tunnel, so we have expanded the department.

"The Bicester wind tunnel is still the focal point for designing the 2006 car, while the new one in Bedford will be used for RB2 development later in the year."

The team have high hopes that they can build on their impressive form this season, with technical director Mark Smith confident that results will come from structural improvements made at the outfit over the course of last year.  

"Red Bull Racing started the (2005) season in a very strong fashion, but we were realistic enough to know that there were one or two teams that were not in their normal positions in terms of pecking order," explained Smith. "Hats off to everyone here for being able to take advantage of that.

"If you look at our pace compared to BAR at the last race we were quite strong. So we have developed, but more importantly we have developed a structure within the organisation that will allow us to go further next year and beyond."