Mar.6 (GMM) World champions Red Bull are considering taking the older version of its new car - the RB8 - to Melbourne for the 2012 Formula 1 season opener.
That is the opinion of the authoritative Auto Motor und Sport magazine, after the radically updated model made a troubled debut late last week as the pre-season test period ended.
Rivals and pundits believe the reigning champions are still leading the field, but the latest Barcelona-spec car - featuring a significantly different exhaust layout - did not complete many laps.
Moreover, it also did not appear to be fast.
"When I watched Webber's long run on Saturday afternoon," said an engineer for a rival team, "it was nothing special - not the lap times nor the tyre wear."
After his final day in the cockpit of the revised RB8, Mark Webber also appeared unconvinced, "The thing that everyone’s obviously asking about is the changes we made to the car but I have to say the car was not massively different to the one I drove on Thursday. We went through our normal programme, nothing drastic happened, and we just keep working away."
Sebastian Vettel, meanwhile, was dead last after just 23 laps on Sunday, and is quoted as saying: "It wouldn't be fair for me to judge the upgrades, so we have to rely on the data collected by Mark."
Another rival engineer said there is visual evidence that the exhaust gases on the revised layout "are not going where they (Red Bull) want them to go".
Subbed by AJN.
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