Red Bull do not plan anymore upgrades for the RB18 for both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez for the rest of the season, as they look set to focus firmly on efforts to develop their 2023 challenger. According to Red Bull's Chief Technical Officer, Rob Marshall, the team at Milton Keynes has switched to developing next years car now that they have nearly secured both championships. "All focus is now fully on 2023. There are still some very minimal things to come, but there will be no major updates between now and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix," he told the F1 Nation Podcast. The latest updates to the RB18 came at Singapore, where the team opted to introduce a floor upgrade to a race outside of Europe according to Red Bull Chief Engineer, Paul Monaghan. "It was about a few millimetres of changes here and there, but we were able to do that after we had no damage to our floors in Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy," he explained to media. "Then we could opt for this update, which we wanted to introduce at the beginning of a race outside Europe, not halfway. That's why we chose Singapore."
Cost factors to weigh up
Monaghan adds that a number of factors also come into play when introducing parts towards the end of a season. "It depends on several factors. For example, have we 'lost' parts in damages on the way to Abu Dhabi? There is probably quite a lot of influence on that. "The cost of making the parts and shipping the parts relative to the expected or predicted gain? Does it address a weak area of the car or is it a supplement? Is it worth it, can we do it? "If we bring it to Abu Dhabi, do we give a hint to our competitors of what we might be looking at [for next year]? So many factors go into it [our decision making process]."
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