The new rules Red Bull disappointment that ended Vettel's F1 reign

It’s widely believed that major changes in the technical regulations can also upend the form book, handing an opportunity to the most boldly innovative teams. In reality, the best-resourced organisations usually prevail unless they’ve been distracted by in-season development during the run-up to the change.

For the 2014 Formula 1, the FIA sought to improve the on-track competition by neutering certain elements of aerodynamic development. At the same time, they implemented a long-planned change to the engine formula, introducing 1.6-litre turbocharged hybrids in the hope that greater relevance to developments in the road car industry might stem the exodus of manufacturers and attract new ones.

As history records, the results were mixed. Just one new manufacturer entered the fray while one of the loudest cheerleaders for the format lost its appetite. But on the race tracks the long-established dominance of Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel were shattered, largely because Mercedes had worked harder for longer on the new engine package and solved many of the technical problems other suppliers were only just beginning to encounter as the new era approached. Having won a record-breaking nine consecutive grands prix in the second half of 2013 Vettel, the sitting world champion, would not claim another victory for the organisation which had furnished his path to Formula 1.

For the previous four seasons, Red Bull had enjoyed a dominance born of hard-earned aerodynamic superiority. The common – and overly simplistic – view is that the team pursued and perfected the ‘high-rake’ concept early and reaped the benefits, taking a risk on raising the rear of the car to boost the downforce potential of the diffuser and mitigating the downsides before anyone else.

This narrative glosses over many of the details. The key discovery Adrian Newey’s team of aerodynamicists made was that the deformation characteristics of the Pirelli tyres had a damaging effect on crucial airflow structures around the rear of the car during cornering. Modelling the sidewall flex accurately in simulation required a great deal of effort and resource but it paid off in terms of enabling Red Bull and Renault to maximise the potential of using the exhausts to ‘blow’ the diffuser.

PLUS: How Vettel put in the hard yards to exploit Red Bull’s F1 potential

Renault’s willingness and ability to play tunes with engine mapping was a crucial element of Red Bull’s success in this era. But there was a malaise behind the scenes. Renault had under-invested at the beginning of the V8 engine era, taking the ‘freeze’ on engine development at face value and cutting back on staff and resource. When rivals exploited loopholes to smuggle performance upgrades through in the name of reliability improvements, Renault had to plead for special treatment from the FIA to catch up.

Despite a troubled start to life for the RB10, Ricciardo secured a podium on debut - until he was disqualified for a fuel-flow rule breach

Photo by: Daniel Kalisz

When the governing body first mooted the hybrid power unit regulations Renault was one of the keenest advocates, even suggesting it might quit F1 unless the engine rules were made more ‘road relevant’. During the interim between agreement and implementation, though, it had gone cold on the idea.

In his autobiography How To Build A Car Newey recounts a meeting with Carlos Ghosn, then the ultimate boss of Renault, from which Newey left with the gloomy impression that Red Bull’s long-time engine partner had little interest in committing the necessary funds to the hybrid engine project. This belief was confirmed when the new 1.6-litre turbocharged hybrid V6 power unit was installed in the RB10. During the first four-day pre-season test at Jerez, Red Bull completed just 21 laps.

Renault’s PU had arrived thoroughly undercooked, with a broad spread of intersecting problems. The internal combustion engine itself was behind the curve but there were other hardware issues in the interconnected hybrid systems and the software managing these also required development. Other clients endured a troubled opening test but Red Bull’s problems were compounded by the tight packaging of the RB10, which made it prone to overheating.

To Renault’s credit, it resolved many of the durability issues quickly and Red Bull would suffer just two further retirements related to the power unit. But the focus on addressing the power unit durability shortcomings came at a cost to performance

A temporary fix to the engine mapping enabled it to run at reduced power on the final day of the Jerez test but it wasn’t until the third and final test in Bahrain that the team strung together a meaningful on-track stint which extended into double figures. Even this required more holes in the bodywork to improve cooling.

As a result of the disrupted pre-season, both Red Bull and Renault arrived at the first round in Australia in catch-up mode. Nevertheless, new recruit Daniel Ricciardo, promoted from the Toro Rosso junior squad, managed to split the dominant Mercedes in qualifying – albeit in a session interrupted by rain. He would be on the front row while Vettel, hampered by a failed software update which compromised his power unit’s driveability, started from 12th on the grid.

Polesitter Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes was beset by an electrical short in a spark plug which prompted him to withdraw after two laps, while Vettel barely managed one more tour before his power unit expired. Hamilton’s team-mate Nico Rosberg surged through from third on the grid to take a commanding win from Ricciardo, who defied the odds by getting his RB10 to the finishing line, albeit nearly 20s down.

Barely had Ricciardo delivered his trophy to the Red Bull motorhome, though, when he was required to give it back. The live data stream from the FIA-homologated fuel-flow sensor had reported his car exceeding the limit of 100kg/hour, thereby potentially gaining an advantage.

The initial RB10 was relatively basic by Newey's standards

Photo by: James Mann

While cars were only permitted to carry 100kg of fuel under the new technical formula, by definition fuel isn’t used at a constant rate during the course of a race. Managing fuel flow was a fundamental tenet of the new ‘road-relevant’ regulations which aimed to prioritise efficiency and drive technical innovation which would trickle down into the road car industry. Essentially the fuel-flow sensors work by passing an ultrasonic pulse through the liquid and using the ‘time of flight’ from one transducer to the other to calculate flow velocity. Smartwatches and other wearable devices operate on a similar principle, albeit with optical sensors, to measure heart rate.

The Melbourne fuel-flow imbroglio has some parallels with Red Bull’s more recent skirmish with the budget cap regulations. On both occasions, the team clung pugnaciously to its belief that its interpretation and conduct were correct, very much against the prevailing winds.

Fuel flow remains a key pillar of F1’s hybrid philosophy, such that in 2020 the FIA mandated a second (encrypted) sensor per car to ensure teams weren’t circumventing the 100kg/hour limit. In 2014, Red Bull’s was the first scalp claimed by the system. The FIA’s stewards at the Australian Grand Prix said Ricciardo’s car had “consistently” exceeded the limit. Red Bull’s riposte was to suggest the sensors weren’t fit for purpose and its own measurements indicated a discrepancy between the actual fuel flow and that claimed by the sensor.

Certainly, there was some merit in Red Bull’s argument – the sensor had malfunctioned during Friday and its replacement had failed in qualifying – but the fuel-flow limit was too important a concept for the governing body to allow teams to start pushing the boundaries of what was permitted. A month later the FIA’s court of appeal upheld the disqualification and, in so doing, established a precedent that the readings of the fuel-flow meters weren’t open to question.

To Renault’s credit, it resolved many of the race-day durability issues relatively quickly and Red Bull would suffer just two further retirements related to the power unit and its electronics throughout the season. But the focus on addressing the power unit durability shortcomings came at a cost to performance, given that development was tightly restricted by the FIA’s system of ‘tokens’.

To keep the show on the road, the power unit often had to be run in lower power modes – and, in an era of rationed development, raising that ceiling was a challenge. Vettel claimed a podium in China, Ricciardo in Spain and Monaco, but took the chequered flag up to half a minute and more behind the dominant Mercedes.

While car reliability issues were largely confined to practice, Vettel was struggling with his RB10 to such an extent that the team gave him a new chassis for Spain. While the team initially described this as a scheduled change, it was Red Bull’s ‘driver advisor’ Helmut Marko who, characteristically, let slip the truth that a crack in the structure was suspected if not located. Despite having this comfort blanket thrown around him, however, Vettel continued to be outperformed on track.

Also, in Spain, the team introduced a comprehensive car upgrade comprising new front and rear wings, revised suspension, and a new engine cover and floor. While the Barcelona race, the first of the so-called ‘European season’, was traditionally one where teams introduced update packages, this was remarkably extensive – tantamount to a B-spec. In subsequent years a pattern would emerge in which Red Bull would start the year with a very basic car and then only really kick on after adding a definitive spec from Spain onwards.

As developments arrived from Spain onwards, Red Bull began to strike but only when Mercedes faltered

Photo by: James Mann

It had been observed that, apart from its aggressive packaging and the cunning ruse of mounting the mandatory TV camera in a slot on the nose rather than on pylons (banned from Monaco onwards), the RB10 appeared rather unsophisticated for a Newey car from launch. The question was, what was Red Bull’s design guru up to?

As it turned out, quietly hating the new technical formula. He would also, later, admit to being… if not distracted, certainly otherwise engaged at times, by approaches from rival teams for his services. Niki Lauda made a concerted effort to bring him to Mercedes but Newey came closest to signing for Ferrari, only making his decision after a number of visits to Italy. Ultimately the draw of attending to his teenage children and his new partner dissuaded him from relocating.

To keep Newey in the fold Red Bull had to make a number of concessions, creating a new entity – Red Bull Advanced Technologies – for him to head up, enabling him to recharge his dwindling enthusiasm for F1 by dabbling in side projects such as a putative Americas Cup programme with Olympic medal-winner Ben Ainslie. While this project faded inconsequentially, Newey did throw himself into the co-development of the Aston Martin Valkyrie.

Vettel’s fluctuating form continued to be one of F1’s major narrative threads into the autumn as Ricciardo won in Canada, Hungary and Belgium. While these were poacher’s victories – Mercedes had brake problems in Canada, Hungary was rain-affected, then in Belgium the two Mercedes drivers suffered damage in collision with one another – Ricciardo earned them by being at the head of the pursuing pack.

Vettel’s Red Bull career ended on a downbeat note of competitive disappointment. In the final round at Yas Marina, amid the hype surrounding the absurd granting of double points for the season finale, both RB10s were thrown out of qualifying

While Vettel had the greater share of technical issues he looked erratic and rattled. After qualifying third in Belgium, Vettel made an impetuous early move on Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes and clonked over the speed bumps in the run off at Les Combes, finishing fifth after a late-race punt from behind by Fernando Alonso.

For the following race, Vettel had a ‘new’ chassis (actually one previously used in testing), ostensibly because of damage incurred in Belgium, but for Singapore, at the end of September, the team built an all-new monocoque. As ever, Helmut Marko failed to keep his counsel, divulging that this was more for Vettel’s psychological benefit than for performance. A schism between the team and its star pupil which had been developing behind the scenes was beginning to be visible to the public.

An opportunity was opening up at Ferrari, where Alonso was in the throes of a catastrophic fall-out with new team boss Marco Mattiacci – himself not too long for the Scuderia’s employ. In early October Vettel triggered a release clause in his contract which enabled him to leave Red Bull if he was below third in the championship (subject to the cut-off date of the forthcoming Japanese Grand Prix).

The BR10 marked a disappointing end to Vettel's time at Red Bull

Photo by: James Mann

Thus Vettel’s Red Bull career ended on a downbeat note of competitive disappointment. In the final round at Yas Marina, amid the hype surrounding the absurd granting of double points for the season finale, both RB10s were thrown out of qualifying when their front wing elements were discovered to be flexing beyond the permitted 10mm when subjected to a 1000Nm. With typical bolshiness the team claimed it had been “singled out” and that others were “interpreting the rules in a similar fashion”.

In an otherwise processional and jejune encounter, Ricciardo raced from the back of the grid to fourth, making a key early overtake on Kevin Magnussen – behind whom Vettel became stuck, limiting him to eighth at the flag.

The RB10, not one of Red Bull’s best cars, therefore signed off its career on a suitably defiant note – in Ricciardo’s hands at least. And while Vettel would show signs of his old spark and win again with Ferrari, yet more career turbulence lay ahead…

Race record

Starts: 38    
Wins: 3  
Poles: 0    
Fastest laps: 3   
Podiums: 9    
Championship points: 405 

Specification

Chassis: Carbonfibre monocoque 
Suspension: Double wishbones with pushrod-actuated spring and dampers (f), pullrod-actuated
spring and dampers (r)
Engine: Turbocharged Renault Energy F1-2014   
Engine capacity: 1598cc    
Power: 760bhp @ 15,000 rpm   
Gearbox: Eight-speed semi-automatic  
Brakes: Carbon discs front and rear    
Tyres: Pirelli  
Weight: 690kg   
Notable drivers: Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo

Ricciardo's three wins spared Red Bull's blushes but its era of F1 domination was over

Photo by: James Mann