Horner hopes for 100% reliability
With an incredibly competitive season expected, Red Bull boss Christian Horner believes that reliability will be key to his team's title challenge.
Sebastian Vettel was twice denied victory in the early stages of last season due to mechanical problems, and while the team only suffered one retirement as a result of technical failures (a blown engine for Vettel in Korea), they were unable to make the most of their dominance at the beginning of the season because of poor reliability.
While defending the car's performance last year, Horner admits that there will be no room for error in 2011.
"I think you can always improve in all areas," he told crash.net.
"I think our reliability in 2010 was good, [although] obviously we had a couple of engine issues that I know Renault has worked hard to resolve. I think we were one of the most reliable teams on the chassis side last year, but it's always important to try to achieve 100 per cent reliability, which is I'm sure the target of every team."
The 2010 season was one of the closest fought battles in some time, with Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren involved in a three-way challenge for title honours. Horner believes that the coming season will be even more competitive.
"Sitting here at this time of year, you can expect Ferrari and McLaren to be strong, Mercedes I'm sure will be looking for a better season and Renault finished 2010 pretty strongly," explained the 37-year-old.
"It's impossible to predict [the order] until we get to the first grand prix," he added.
Traditionally, Red Bull have sat out the first testing session of the season as they look to squeeze out every possible moment of development time. This year the team will put their 2011 challenger through its paces from the opening round of testing in Valencia, a move Horner attributes to incredibly hard work from all involved.
"We've adhered to a programme that has worked for us. Over the last two years that meant missing the first test, but this year Adrian has had just as long in the wind tunnel and decided that because of the regulation changes and particularly the tyres, it suited our programme to be at the first test. That's not to say one way is right and one way is wrong; it's just the way we have elected to approach 2011," said the Briton.
"The factory is working flat-out at the moment, just getting everything prepared to run the car for the first time on 1 February. The whole group has worked tremendously hard - particularly over the Christmas holidays - to get us into a position where we are effectively a week ahead of where we were this time twelve months ago."
A number of changes have been made to the F1 regulations for the coming season, with Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS) returning, the introduction of adjustable rear wings and the end of F-ducts and double diffusers. Changes always mean a new challenge, and Horner sees them as having a positive influence.
"I think the changes will certainly have an impact," he said.
"We had KERS in 2009 and it's making a comeback for 2011. The double-diffuser has disappeared. It's an interesting challenge, and it will be interesting, too, to see what the new regulations do to improve the racing, which in any case was very good in 2010 - I think it was the best year we've had for a long time, and all the ingredients are currently there to make 2011 every bit as exciting a season," he added.
Credit: PlanetF1.com (www.planetf1.com)
No comments:
Post a Comment