Stella flags Red Bull sidepods as Miami talking point

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said Red Bull’s new RB22 sidepod concept was the most significant technical development to emerge from the Miami Grand Prix, arguing that rivals will now study it closely even as the team’s new “Macarena” rear wing grabbed most of the attention.

Speaking after the race in Miami, Stella said he was genuinely surprised by Red Bull’s update direction. He described the sidepods as “very interesting” and said the concept “differs quite a lot” from the approaches used by Mercedes and Ferrari, while McLaren had also followed “a very different” style.

That gap in design philosophy, in Stella’s view, shows Formula 1 has still not settled on a single aerodynamic path. He said “at some point there will be a stabilization, a convergence, but it seems we are still far from that convergence,” and predicted a period in which teams continue to watch one another and test new ideas.

Stella expects Red Bull’s latest bodywork to become a particular reference point in that process. He said every team would keep experimenting while taking the Red Bull concept “under the microscope” to understand its advantages, and suggested some may eventually copy elements of it.

That made the sidepods, rather than the headline-grabbing rear wing, the more important technical story of the weekend. Red Bull’s own version of the “Macarena” wing drew immediate notice in Miami because of its unusual appearance and its effect on the straights, but Stella made clear his focus was drawn more by the changes around the sidepods.

The Miami package went well beyond a single rear-wing specification. Red Bull also introduced updates to the front wing, the inlet and outlet ducts near the wheels, the floor and the engine cover, with the sidepod layout emerging as the element most likely to shape what rival teams examine next.