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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 August 3)

PDriverTeamPoints
1Oscar PiastriMcLaren284
2Lando NorrisMcLaren275
3Max VerstappenRed Bull187
4George RussellMercedes172
5Charles LeclercFerrari151
6Lewis HamiltonFerrari109
7Andrea AntonelliMercedes64
8Alexander AlbonWilliams54
9Nico HülkenbergKick Sauber37
10Esteban OconHaas27
11Fernando AlonsoAston Martin26
12Lance StrollAston Martin26
13Isack HadjarRacing Bulls22
14Pierre GaslyAlpine20
15Liam LawsonRacing Bulls20
16Carlos SainzWilliams16
17Gabriel BortoletoKick Sauber14
18Yuki TsunodaRed Bull10
19Oliver BearmanHaas8
20Jack DoohanAlpine0
21Franco ColapintoAlpine0
PTeamPoints
1McLaren F1 Team559
         Poles: 8       Sprint wins: 1       GP wins: 11
2Scuderia Ferrari HP260
         Poles: 1       Sprint wins: 1       GP wins: 0
3Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team236
         Poles: 1       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 1
4Oracle Red Bull Racing194
         Poles: 4       Sprint wins: 1       GP wins: 2
5Atlassian Williams Racing70
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
6Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team52
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
7Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber51
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
8Visa Cash App Racing Bulls45
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
9MoneyGram Haas F1 Team35
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
10BWT Alpine F1 Team20
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0

2025 MotoGP Championship Standings (as of August 24)

PRiderTeamPoints
1Marc MarquezDucati Lenovo455
2Alex MarquezGresini Racing280
3Francesco BagnaiaDucati Lenovo228
4Marco BezzecchiAprilia Racing197
5Pedro AcostaRed Bull KTM164
6Franco MorbidelliPertamina Enduro VR46161
7Fabio Di GiannantonioPertamina Enduro VR46154
8Fermin AldeguerGresini Racing126
9Johann ZarcoCastrol Honda LCR114
10Fabio QuartararoMonster Energy Yamaha109
11Brad BinderRed Bull KTM91
12Raul FernandezTrackhouse Racing73
13Luca MariniHonda HRC Castrol72
14Maverick ViñalesKTM Tech369
15Enea BastianiniKTM Tech363
16Ai OguraTrackhouse Racing58
17Jack MillerPramac Racing52
18Joan MirHonda HRC Castrol46
19Alex RinsMonster Energy Yamaha45
20Jorge MartinAprilia Racing23
21Pol EspargaroKTM Tech316
22Miguel OliveiraPramac Racing10
23Takaaki NakagamiHRC Team10
24Lorenzo SavadoriAprilia Racing8
25Augusto FernandezYamaha Factory Racing6
26Somkiat ChantraIdemitsu Honda LCR1
27Aleix EspargaroHRC Team0
PTeamPoints
1Ducati Lenovo Team683
         Poles: 9       Sprint wins: 13       GP wins: 11
2BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP406
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 1       GP wins: 1
3Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team315
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
4Red Bull KTM Factory Racing255
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
5Aprilia Racing228
         Poles: 1       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 1
6Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP154
         Poles: 4       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
7Red Bull KTM Tech3148
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
8Trackhouse MotoGP Team131
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
9Honda HRC Castrol118
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
10Honda LCR MotoGP115
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 1
11Prima Pramac Racing65
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0