Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsRed Bull Racing

Red Bull building on lessons from 2015 - Newey

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Red Bull chief technical officer Adrian Newey says that as painful as 2015 turned out to be for the former world champions, the season provided some valuable lessons that the team has built on.

"Last year was a difficult start to the season, we had some handling issues through some different philosophies that we'd tried over the winter," Newey said.

" They didn't work out but it was a very useful exercise. Often when you have a good-handling car it's difficult to learn, but if you make some mistakes then you can really learn from those mistakes, and that is exactly what happened last season.

"Some mistakes early on prove very valuable lessons from those mistakes, so by the second half of the year we had a very competitive car as was demonstrated in the middle sector at Spa, and in the rain in Austin.

"I think we've managed to build further from those lessons from last season and all the indications from our simulations are that our chassis should be very strong. "

Newey also expressed his satisfaction with the RB12's design package, underlining the crucial requirement to achieve a coherent integration of all areas and components.

"With the stable and quite restrictive set of regulations we have at the moment it's difficult to find any major new areas, like the blown exhaust and those sorts of things that we've had in the past.

"Therefore what we really tried to concentrate on with this car was getting a cohesive package where all the parts, the suspension, the chassis dynamics, the aerodynamics all work together in harmony.

"We did what we could in terms of packaging of the car without knowing the power unit but ultimately it was a very compressed design cycle. I think the guys, and the drawing office in particular, did a fantastic job in turning that around and reacting to what was a very short lead time."

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Phillip van Osten

Motor racing was a backdrop from the outset in Phillip van Osten's life. Born in Southern California, Phillip grew up with the sights and sounds of fast cars thanks to his father, Dick van Osten, an editor and writer for Auto Speed and Sport and Motor Trend. Phillip's passion for racing grew even more when his family moved to Europe and he became acquainted with the extraordinary world of Grand Prix racing. He was an early contributor to the monthly French F1i Magazine, often providing a historic or business perspective on Formula 1's affairs. In 2012, he co-authored along with fellow journalist Pierre Van Vliet the English-language adaptation of a limited edition book devoted to the great Belgian driver Jacky Ickx. He also authored "The American Legacy in Formula 1", a book which recounts the trials and tribulations of American drivers in Grand Prix racing. Phillip is also a commentator for Belgian broadcaster Be.TV for the US Indycar series.