Red Bull’s “postwar wind tunnel model” built by British army not up to the mark, says team advisor Helmut Marko

Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko blamed their old wind tunnel for the car's lack of performance in the current F1 season. He also claimed that their new wind tunnel would be running in 2026.

The Milton Keynes outfit is arguably in their worst form since the 2021 season. Although sitting in second place currently, the RB20 has not won a single race since the Spanish Grand Prix which was held in June. This is a huge letdown for the team that dominated the grid in the past two seasons with a winning rate of 95.5%, breaking multiple long-standing F1 records.

Speaking about their current performance, Helmut Marko suggested that the wind tunnel might be to blame. He claimed that it's a "post-war model built by the British Army."

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

He feels that the new tunnel would be prepared by 2026. This would be the time when the F1 cars would be running according to the new regulations with upgraded aerodynamics and power units.

"We are not up to date anymore, far from it. And I hope that by 2026 our new wind tunnel will be up and running," he added.

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Red Bull advisor confused after Lando Norris' "alien" performance

Lando Norris won the Singapore Grand Prix with immense domination, leaving Max Verstappen trailing by over 20 seconds in second place. This marked a significant turnaround for Red Bull, who had traditionally built substantial leads in races until last season.

Norris' performance on the medium tire stint left everyone, including Helmut Marko surprised. The latter claimed that even if the Red Bull was optimized perfectly with the track, they couldn't have pulled off a performance like the 24-year-old"s.

"Well, that Lando’s dominance is alien, especially on Medium tyres – he took nine-tenths to one second per lap from us," Marko told Formel1.de.

“Even if our car had been, let’s say, optimised, he couldn’t have driven those times on the Medium. And we’re all wondering how he did it. When Norris takes nine-tenths to one second per lap from us, then it’s a whole new world," the 81-year-old dadded

Although the team is not winning races currently, it is seemingly easy for Verstappen to win his fourth consecutive World Championship. His early performance in the season gave him a huge lead, and even if Norris manages to win all of the remaining six races, the Red Bull driver would only have to finish in P2 to still end up as the champion.