Red Bull Admits To Copying Competitors's Cars: 'We Also Copy Some Stuff'

Saturday, 13 January 2024 at 17:00

Red Bull's technical director, Pierre Wache, recently said his team also copies other cars as he explained his view on the matter.

Formula One is very much a development race. The team with the fastest car most often wins the Championship. So why don't F1 teams just copy each other's cars?

It is not that simple. First of all, FIA (F1's regulatory body) has regulations in place that prevent teams from outright copying each other.

While teams can get inspiration from each other, they must independently develop their own solutions and concepts. Instances of teams copying each other could lead to being investigated and penalized.

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Moreover, as Red Bull's technical director explained to motorsport.com, just copying an element for a rival's car will not make their car go faster.

"I think it's possible to copy, but in every business in the world, when it's technical, the 'how' is one aspect. The most important aspect is 'why'."

Teams very often get inspiration from each other, and starting in 2022, we can observe most of the cars on the grid started resembling leading Red Bull (the fastest concept) more and more.

While many teams started developing cars similar to Red Bull, it has worked for only a few of them. Wache believes it is because they do not know "why."

"If you don't know 'why', you can copy whatever you want, but it's better to stay with what you understand."

AlphaTauri's technical director, Jody Egginton, recently said a very similar thing. He suggested it is very easy to copy the design of some aerodynamic elements, but the devil is in the detail and you won't see it unless you understand it.

Wache quite openly admitted his team also looks at other cars to look for inspiration and he admitted they have used elements they observed on some different cars.

"We also copy some stuff. We [might] copy the wrong thing, but you [also] inspire yourself based on what you see from others."

Each of the F1 teams has separate departments which constantly work on new innovations. However, if they are able to observe and understand an element used by different teams, they might save a lot of time and money. Red Bull's technical director added:

"You [need to] have the knowledge and also what you want to achieve. If you don't have the same golden aim of characteristics, it doesn't bring anything."