The end of the season will serve as a laboratory for Red Bull
Sebastian Vettel clinched the drivers' title in Suzuka this Sunday, and the Red Bull team is more than ever in the race to secure the constructors' title by the end of the season. However, the Austrian team will use the last four Grand Prix of the year to test things in preparation for next season.
The Red Bull team probably has the best car this season with the RB7, even though McLaren and Ferrari seem to have caught up with the team based in Milton Keynes in the past few races, as evidenced by Button’s victory in Suzuka this weekend and Alonso’s second place ahead of Vettel.
But this new podium achieved by the German driver secures him the 2011 world champion title, allowing him to approach the end of the season more calmly. The same goes for the Red Bull Racing team, even though it is not yet assured of the constructors’ title. However, this will not stop them from testing new things for 2012 in the upcoming races.
« The best part is that the season is not over yet. We still have four races to learn a lot of things, and in a way, we have some freedom to explore things to ensure that next year we will be even stronger and better prepared, » said Sebastian Vettel.
The Austrian team could notably test new parts to prepare for next season, thus imitating Ferrari, who decided to do so two races ago – in Singapore, Alonso and Massa were able to test a new front wing that foreshadowed the 2012 model.
Update: Stefano Domenicali, the director of Scuderia Ferrari, stated that the Italian team will do like its rival by continuing to bring new parts to test during Friday’s free practice sessions in the last four races of the season in order to keep preparing for 2012.
Clearly, regarding the testing of new settings and new parts, we will use Fridays to test and continue the development of the car as much as possible. That’s what we have decided to do, and I think our competitors will do the same, Stefano Domenicali stated in a video published by Ferrari.TV.
