Williams to Also Copy Red Bull Exhaust Design

Red Bull Racing seems to have come up with the best layout in terms of exhaust system for the 2011 season of Formula 1. And while we don't have the technical information to prove it, the fact that the majority of the F1 teams out there are trying to copy their design of the aforementioned part prior to the season opening Australian Grand Prix is proof enough.

Ferrari were the first ones to debut a new exhaust system at Barcelona this week, during their “filming day” on Monday, resembling a lot to Red Bull's design for the RB7. However, when asked if the Scuderia looked to their rivals when coming up with their exhaust update, technical boss Aldo Costa insisted that was not the case.

“This package was planned well in advance,” said the Italian official.

In the meantime, Mercedes GP also presented a new layout for their exhaust system, consisting of a variation between Red Bull's and Renault's designs (the latter directs the exhaust gases forward and underneath the car). And now it is reported that Williams will also adopt a Red Bull-type of exhaust from as early as Thursday this week.

According to a report from Germany's Auto Motor und Sport, the Grove based team will debut the new exhaust layout during today's running in Barcelona, after having tested it via CFD (computational fluid dynamics) in recent weeks.

“We have played with all the different variations in CFD,” confirmed the British team's technical director Sam Michael to the aforementioned publication. “The most efficient solution is Red Bull's,” he added.