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Red Bull Hurt By Blown Diffuser Ban

Red Bull Racing's chief technical director Adrian Newey has put his team's failure to recapture its dominant form from last year down to the winter rule changes designed to outlaw exhaust blown diffusers.

Red Bull was the first team to harness the concept two years ago and last year optimised it to a degree that allowed it to dominate the Drivers and the Constructors Championship. Despite working to recreate such an effect in a limited way, which led to a rules clarification that forced Red Bull's Renault engine partner to modify engine maps designed to extract the most downforce available from blowing exhaust gases at aero-profiled brake ducts, the Red Bull Racing team has only won three times so far in 2012.

Last year Red Bull was 103 points clear after eleven races, now the team is leading the Constructors Championship after eleven races by 53 points.

Speaking to Autosport, Newey said: "It's pretty much as we feared before the season started. Having explored exhaust blowing technology quite heavily for two seasons and then having that taken away together with other changes like the front wing flexibility test rules, hurt us quite a lot. Probably it hurt us more than other people because we had been exploiting it for longer. It has taken a while to try to understand what we need to do and to recover."

The chief technical director also hinted that Red Bull has yet to re-adapt its car to the engine mapping rule change introduced ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix at the end of July.

While German World Champion Vettel finished fourth at the Hungaroring, he struggled to match the race pace of the Lotuses and the McLarens and the car was flattered by running on fresher rubber relative to the top three late in the race.

"We've been working with Renault and were suddenly faced with a clarification that was a different interpretation to what we thought we were operating to. That's where we are and we've got to go back and have a fresh look," Newey commented.

Sky 4 Energy

2025 F1 Championship Standings (as of April 13)

PDriverTeamPoints
1Lando NorrisMcLaren77
2Oscar PiastriMcLaren74
3Max VerstappenRed Bull69
4George RussellMercedes63
5Charles LeclercFerrari32
6Andrea AntonelliMercedes30
7Lewis HamiltonFerrari25
8Alexander AlbonWilliams18
9Esteban OconHaas14
10Lance StrollAston Martin10
11Nico HülkenbergKick Sauber6
12Oliver BearmanHaas6
13Pierre GaslyAlpine6
14Yuki TsunodaRed Bull5
15Isack HadjarRacing Bulls4
16Carlos SainzWilliams1
17Fernando AlonsoAston Martin0
18Gabriel BortoletoKick Sauber0
19Jack DoohanAlpine0
20Liam LawsonRacing Bulls0
PTeamPoints
1McLaren F1 Team151
         Poles: 3       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 3
2Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team93
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
3Oracle Red Bull Racing71
         Poles: 1       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 1
4Scuderia Ferrari HP57
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 1       GP wins: 0
5MoneyGram Haas F1 Team20
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
6Atlassian Williams Racing19
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
7Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team10
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
8Visa Cash App Racing Bulls7
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
9Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber6
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
10BWT Alpine F1 Team6
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0

2025 MotoGP Championship Standings (as of April 13)

PRiderTeamPoints
1Marc MarquezDucati Lenovo123
2Alex MarquezGresini Racing106
3Francesco BagnaiaDucati Lenovo97
4Franco MorbidelliPertamina Enduro VR4678
5Fabio Di GiannantonioPertamina Enduro VR4648
6Johann ZarcoCastrol Honda LCR38
7Marco BezzecchiAprilia Racing32
8Fabio QuartararoMonster Energy Yamaha30
9Ai OguraTrackhouse Racing29
10Luca MariniHonda HRC Castrol26
11Pedro AcostaRed Bull KTM24
12Brad BinderRed Bull KTM22
13Enea BastianiniKTM Tech321
14Fermin AldeguerGresini Racing20
15Jack MillerPramac Racing19
16Alex RinsMonster Energy Yamaha14
17Joan MirHonda HRC Castrol10
18Maverick ViñalesKTM Tech38
19Raul FernandezTrackhouse Racing5
20Augusto FernandezPramac Racing3
21Miguel OliveiraPramac Racing2
22Lorenzo SavadoriAprilia Racing1
23Somkiat ChantraIdemitsu Honda LCR0
24Jorge MartinAprilia Racing0
PTeamPoints
1Ducati Lenovo Team220
         Poles: 4       Sprint wins: 4       GP wins: 4
2BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP126
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
3Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team126
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
4Red Bull KTM Factory Racing46
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
5Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP44
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
6Honda LCR MotoGP38
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
7Honda HRC Castrol36
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
8Trackhouse MotoGP Team34
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
9Aprilia Racing33
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
10Red Bull KTM Tech329
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
11Prima Pramac Racing24
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0