Red Bull explains how their 2022 challenger RB18 suffered from weight issues

Red Bull Chief Technology Officer Adrian Newey revealed the issues that made the RB18 car much heavier than its competitors.

When the F1 circus reached its first race of the season, the Red Bull challenger was arguably one of the bulkier cars on the grid. It was 20 kgs heavier than the weight limit. This made it 10kgs heavier than Ferrari and 5kgs heavier than Mercedes. One of the reasons behind it, according to Adrian Newey, was because of the shortened development time that Red Bull had to contend with.

The team was one of the last teams to shift focus to the new regulations in 2021 and because of this, some things had to be put together haphazardly. Detailing the weight issues on the car, Newey said:

"A lot of things came together that drove the weight up more than expected. The tyres were heavier than we initially thought. When you develop a car, you work with tolerances on the estimated weight. We thought we were going to be close to the weight limit, in fact we were well over it."

He further added:

"We had a problem passing the side crash test and had to reinforce the structure there on the chassis. That means you pay for it in weight. Some parts like the fairing were just too heavy because they were put together in a hurry. Then there were some stupid items. The footrest was a kilogram too heavy – it was designed at the last minute. Our car was very difficult to set up in the first part of the season."

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Adrian Newey reveals how Red Bull losing weight helped car characteristics

Adrian Newey revealed how the Red Bull challenger's weight loss had a massive impact on car performance. Early in the season, the car suffered from a small working window. This was something that made the car a handful on the qualifying lap, especially for Max Verstappen.

Losing weight helped widen that window. It also helped not only improve the one-lap performance of the car, it improved the race pace as well because of the reduced tire wear on the car. Newey explained:

"We recognized our small working window as a weakness and worked on it specifically. In addition, we lost weight. That not only helps on one lap. It also reduces tyre wear. That is a function of the load on the tyres, be it weight or downforce."

Despite the issues faced by Red Bull, the team were able to win as many as 17 out of a total of 22 races in the 2022 F1 season. This was the first constructors' title for the Austrian team since 2013.