Adrian Newey has described his latest design as a practical rather than radical concept. The Chief Technical Officer of Red Bull Racing was pleased to see the RB6, which has been built around a double diffuser as opposed to the opposite, make an appearance on the Jerez track on Wednesday in the hands of Mark Webber.
Last year's Red Bull was one of all but three cars not to include a 'double-decker', extra downforce-generating diffuser from the start of the season, forcing Englishman Newey to design such a component to fit onto the car in order to keep up with the likes of the pack-leading Brawns.
"The RB6 is very much an evolution of the 2009 car," explained Newey, who joined Red Bull from McLaren in February 2006. "We tried to refine and evolve it rather than go to new concepts. As a result, the car looks similar, with elements such as the chassis and pull-rod rear suspension retained.
"The two main challenges were the larger fuel tank and the smaller front tyres. With the fuel tank, there was more to it than simply putting a bigger tank in the car - it puts more load on the brakes, so the brake cooling has to cope with that.
"You also have to consider what effect the extra fuel will have on the tyre degradation early in the race and if there's anything we should change mechanically to cope with that.
"The narrower front tyre changes weight distribution and the balance of the car. I think it's a sensible evolution of the 2009 car. One obvious difference is that the 2009 car was not designed to suit a double diffuser and we had to try to put one on as best we could, around the existing rear suspension and gearbox; with this car, we've been able to design that part from scratch."
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