Red Bull and Ferrari receive significantly less aero testing allocation

Ferrari and Red Bull have face various difficulties in recent weeks, but their encouraging spots in the first part of the season means that they will be allocated with less wind tunnel time and CFD runs in the remainder of the season than the current pace-setting Mercedes and McLaren outfits.

In the past, teams were able to test as much as they wanted. Ferrari used to test with the great Michael Schumacher long days between races during their glory years in the early 2000s.

As a cost-saving measure, the sport introduced a ban on in-season on-track testing with teams having only a handful of opportunities to test their machines – Pirelli tyre tests, test of previous cars, filming days.

When aerodynamic development was unrestricted, some teams ran their wind tunnels 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Some teams even ran more than one wind tunnel.

In 2021, Formula One introduced a further measure which means that teams are restricted to the number of wind tunnel testing runs and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) hours they can do to develop their racing car.

As per the rule, which works as a sliding scale, teams which occupy the best places in the Constructors’ Championship are allocated with significantly less wind tunnel time and CFD runs than those who are further down in the standings.

There are two dates which are taken into consideration when the FIA defines the allocation for each team.

The team that finishes first in the championship or finds itself at the top of the standings on the 30 June, is handed 70% of the baseline allowance, in 5% increments up to the 115% multiplier for finishing 10th.

With Red Bull leading the Constructors’ Championship, they have the least amount of allocation, having only 70 per cent.

Although McLaren has leapfrogged Ferrari in the standings, with the system considering the order at the end of June, the Scuderia will have the second-least amount of testing with only 75 per cent.

Mercedes have clinched three wins in the last four races, but they will have significantly more testing time in the second half of the year.

Alpine, Williams and Kick Sauber occupy the last three spots in the standings, with the French, British and the Swiss outfit having only collected 11, 4 and zero points so far.

While the situation looks very disappointing for the moment, it means that they will have significantly more wind tunnel runs and CFD runs until the end of 2024 which could help them close in on their direct rivals, Aston Martin, Visa Cash RB and and Haas.