RB not anticipating ‘nasty surprises’ from Spain F1 upgrades

RB Racing Director Alan Permane has said it’s not anticipating “nasty surprises” from the extensive upgrades the team has brought to Formula 1’s Spanish Grand Prix.

The Faenza-based squad has emerged as the clear sixth-fastest team since introducing new parts in Miami and has been able to challenge Aston Martin on occasion.

RB is now striving to make another step towards closing the gap to the quintet ahead with a comprehensive package to Barcelona, containing five performance parts.

Permane has explained that RB’s latest developments will support the ones added in recent rounds and expects it to produce the expected step from the simulations.

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“We’ll find out tomorrow afternoon [how big the step is], Permane told media including Motorsport Week.

“It’s another development in a very similar direction to the one in Miami where we first had one in Miami, I think we had one in Imola as well.

“It’s all in that direction that those works. We’re not expecting any nasty surprises.”

However, Permane has cautioned that the progress delivered from RB’s latest parts will be relative to what the competition ahead and in the midfield have managed.

“Everyone’s moving, everyone’s bringing their own,” he acknowledged. “We saw last race [in Canada], we qualified fifth and eighth.

“I think with that, Yuki, he had a brilliant Q2, he didn’t have the best of Q3s.

“We just need to keep adding downforce, reducing drag. There’s no magic to it, but that’s the formula. That’s what we need to keep doing and that’s what we are doing.”

When it was put to him that improving upon Montreal means racing with the leading pack, Permane reiterated that RB’s processes to unlock inroads wouldn’t change.

“Yeah, we’re racing the big boys then,” he quipped. “Of course, the method and the formula for doing it doesn’t change.

“You know, it’s adding downforce, it’s reducing drag, it’s making the car more efficient, making it more drivable, all those things chipping away at it.

“That’s what we’ve done successfully up until now. I’ve no reason to suspect that we won’t continue doing that.”

Permane revealed the latest developments are intended to complement the Miami updates and are tailored towards enhancing the VCARB 01’s high-speed cornering.

“Before we were focusing a little bit more on the higher speed stuff and this is in line with that,” he explained.

“It’s another step in that. It’s a development of the last development if you like.”