Max Verstappen confirms Helmut Marko's "post-war" comments reveal Red Bull's "fairly old" wind tunnel

Max Verstappen has acknowledged that Red Bull Racing currently has an outdated wind tunnel which might have affected its performance this season. Earlier, team advisor Dr Helmut Marko had mentioned that their wind tunnel was "post-war."

Red Bull's sub-par performances have been the big surprise this season apart from McLaren's positive development. The team dominated the grid in the 2022 and 2023 seasons, winning both championships. Although this season started strong as well, RBR has not won a race since the Spanish GP.

Dr Helmut Marko earlier revealed that Red Bull has an old and outdated wind tunnel which might be the reason for its disappointing upgrades.

"A more modern wind tunnel would help," Marko said. "Our wind tunnel is a post-war model built by the British Army."

Discussing the same, Max Verstappen said that their wind tunnel is outdated. At the same time, however, he revealed that it worked well for them up until this season, which has left the team with doubts. He told Motorsport.com:

"It's true that we have a fairly old wind tunnel, but until this year it did everything right. Some things are just hard to understand."

The Dutchman also claimed that the wind tunnel might not be the only reason for Red Bull's current issues. He stated that many teams face issues with the wind tunnel simulations even with modern versions.

---

Max Verstappen unsure if outdated wind tunnel is the reason for Red Bull's performance

A wind tunnel is a narrow channel that simulates the airflow of an F1 car on track. Teams find it essential because it can sometimes prove to be the first test of their aerodynamic upgrades.

However, it is also important for the wind tunnel to correlate with the car's performance on the track because inaccurate simulation and data can give wrong results and the car might perform vastly differently on the track.

Max Verstappen has suggested that it is hard to blame Red Bull's current struggles on the wind tunnel. He has claimed that other teams, even with modern tunnels, might face similar issues.

"You see that with all the other teams as well, except McLaren. All teams have had their own problems, including teams with modern wind tunnels. I think it is just extremely difficult to fine-tune things perfectly or to get exactly the right data out of it. That can be down to a lot of things in the wind tunnel itself or how it correlates with the track."

Red Bull lost its lead in the constructors' championship to McLaren earlier this season after the race at Baku. However, Max Verstappen is still in a comfortable lead in the drivers' championship. He needs to finish P2 at best in the remaining six races (given Lando Norris wins those) and he would still be the champion.