New Red Bull to be an evolution
Since Formula One's aerodynamic regulations were given an overhaul in 2009, Red Bull has produced race winning cars each season and won championships in 2010 and 2011. Key to its success has been its evolution of a successful design over the past three years and a main feature of those cars has been the exhaust blown diffuser. In 2012 exhaust blown diffusers will be banned, but Newey says that will not mean a change of tack for RB8.
"It's still an evolution," he told ESPNF1. "The changes for next year are principally a ban on exhaust blown diffusers and a change to the nose height. I don't feel that that means you have to have a wholesale change of the underpinnings of the car. So RB8 will be the fourth generation of the car that started off as RB5."
Asked if he was frustrated that the FIA had banned a technology that Red Bull had pioneered over the last three years, Newey said: "I guess its par for the course really. F1 has a long history of a team, whether it's us or someone else, who comes up with an idea and then it gets clamped down. That's the nature of the business."
After a number of retirements due to reliability issues in 2010, the 2011 Red Bull was near-bullet proof. Newey said the team is hoping to maintain that into 2012.
"You can never count on reliability because it comes through a lot of hard work and discipline," he added. "It's that balance of trying to push everything as hard as you dare in the pursuit of performance without losing reliability in the process. In 2010 we threw away a lot of points with problems, but they were silly problems, they weren't problems due to the fundamental reliability of the car." ESPNF1