The return to Europe without a double diffuser for Red Bull

After his victory on a rain-soaked track in China this weekend in a remarkably efficient Red Bull, Sebastian Vettel will still have to wait for two more races before his car is equipped with the famous double diffuser, deemed legal last week by the FIA. “We won’t have the double diffuser until Monaco,” said chief designer Adrian Newey.

This means that the 21-year-old prodigy must give up using the famous element when F1 returns to Europe, starting on May 10 in Spain. By that date, many competitors will have likely already adopted this magical rear end. Unfortunately for Vettel and Red Bull, the Monaco race will not take place until May 24.

But should we see this as a bad omen given the Chinese performance? At least not for Bahrain. Let’s not forget that Adrian Newey is the father of the McLarens that won the world championship in 1998 and 1999 with Mika Hakkinen.

It seems that the double diffuser model used by Brawn, Williams, and other teams like Toyota would be difficult to adapt to the rather flat rear section of the Red Bull, which also explains the wait until the Monaco Grand Prix for the use of such an element. In any case, it is not an option for the team not to adapt the car because this type of diffuser provides a performance improvement: « Its installation is worth it, that’s clear. Our challenge now is to be able to adapt it to our car. We are working on it, but we must not forget to continue with the overall development of the car », the Briton stated.