A report in the German media claims that Red Bull is in the process of building a new, lighter chassis in time for the second half of the season.

Other than the infamous issue of bouncing, another concern over the first half of the season has been weight, with teams struggling to get down to the limit.

In Hungary it was estimated that while the likes of Alpine are just 2kg over the limit and McLaren 3kg, Red Bull is as much as 7kg over and Mercedes 8kg.

With 9 rounds remaining, and the Sprint in Brazil, Red Bull enjoys a 97 point lead over Ferrari, however with Mercedes another 30 points behind, and having scored double podium finishes at the last two races, the championship is far from decided, especially if the German team benefits from the technical directive to be introduced next weekend at Spa when the season resumes.

With this is mind, the respected Auto Motor und Sport is reporting that Red Bull is in the process of building a new lighter chassis for the second half of the season.

This would require the new chassis needing to undergo the FIA's mandatory crash test and as a result would require the Austrian team building three new cars in total.

While it is understood that this could be worth two to three tenths of a second, the big question is how this would affect the team in terms of the budget cap especially as Red Bull has been one of the loudest voices in calling for the cap to be increased.

Though the FIA has granted teams a 3.1% increase in the cap due to inflation, it is difficult to see how Red Bull might remain within the limit.

Adding to the intrigue is the fact that Auto Motor und Sport claims that Red Bull isn't alone in taking the step of building a new chassis, though it says the second teams isn't Mercedes.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by kenji, 24/08/2022 0:33

"@Max Noble Given the negative pasting the TV series has been subjected to I'm somewhat surprised that no one has thought to add an 'L' to the end of the first word in the name? To some it would appear to be appropriate."

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2. Posted by BillH, 23/08/2022 18:12

"So Red Bull and some other big teams complain about how inflation is eating away at their value spend on their existing programs, get a budget increase, and then, assuming this is something in addition to what was planned, Red Bull opt to produce a new chassis, something that I imagine isn't cheap.

Hmmmm...

I have a feeling that the F1 rules makers will not look too favourably on a "please sir, may I have some more?" request in future.
"

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3. Posted by Spindoctor, 23/08/2022 11:45

"@Max Noble - love that “Loss Adjust to Survive” quip!!"

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4. Posted by Max Noble, 23/08/2022 4:04

"Financial Sustainability! The human race to transcend the excel spreadsheet! “Loss Adjust to Survive” will be a major new series created as a financial spin-off from “Drive to Survive”. Gonna be a real Super Bowl experience for taxation, AND accounting specialists! :-)"

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5. Posted by Spindoctor, 22/08/2022 13:49

"Formula 1 - the Pinnacle of Creative Accountancy...."

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6. Posted by itc, 22/08/2022 13:00

"It's edge of your seat stuff this Formula Accountant!
Can't wait for next exciting episode where Toto has to justify his coffee bill to Stefano"

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7. Posted by Max Noble, 22/08/2022 1:02

"I’m more excited to see that Red Bull do all this, plus bring up-dates to the final few races, to hopefully seal both Championships, and yet manage to do it all within the officially measured budget cap… Financial Wizards they be!"

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8. Posted by Tardis40, 21/08/2022 16:40

"Mercedes are out of it. Ferrari has an outside shot if they're able to win the majority of the remaining events and verstappen fails to finish some of them."

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Red Bull to build revised, lighter monocoque?

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