F1 wind tunnel allocation: How many more hours will Mercedes and Ferrari have as compared to Red Bull?

2023 F1 world champion Red Bull is bound to get the least amount of wind tunnel time to develop its 2024 F1 car. This is good news for Mercedes and Ferrari as they try to close the gap and fight for the championship next year.

Red Bull will only get 840 hours of wind tunnel time. In comparison, Mercedes, who finished second in the 2023 constructors' championship, will get 900 hours, while third-placed Ferrari will get 960 hours in the wind tunnel. With every position, 60 hours of wind tunnel time are increased or decreased from a team's quota.

Teams	Wind Tunnel time (in hours)
Red Bull	840
Mercedes	900
Ferrari	960
McLaren	1020
Aston Martin	1080
Alpine	1140
Williams	1200
AlphaTauri	1260
Stake F1 Team	1330
Haas	1380

Since Mercedes and Ferrari will be hungrier than ever to reach closer to Red Bull and at least compete for the world championship, every hour in the wind tunnel will be utilized to the maximum to develop their 2024 chassis.

The wind tunnel is one of the most important departments for F1 teams, as it simulates how the air is going to affect the overall aerodynamics of the car. Teams can improve their cars by looking at the data collected from the wind tunnel test and making their cars much more refined.

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Red Bull finds diminishing returns in performance while developing RB20 for 2024

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner recently stated that the team is experiencing a plateau in their development curve.

The reigning world champion is seeing diminishing returns while building its 2024 car. Furthermore, Horner claims that although Red Bull started working for 2024 earlier than other teams, the lack of wind tunnel time allocations puts constraints on its progress.

"Because there is a reset for the following year and I'm convinced you will see a lot of cars looking like RB19 philosophy. We have got up the [development] curve quicker than others, but we are seeing diminishing returns," he told the BBC.

"And with the lack of wind tunnel time we’ve had, even though we transitioned early, we still had less time in practice than a great many of our opponents. So [we] have had to be very frugal and selective," Horner added.

Red Bull ended the 2023 F1 season with a whopping 860 points in the constructors' championship table.