An F1 technical expert acknowledges that one feature of Red Bull’s 2024 car has “properly thrown” him.
Even though the Formula 1 launch season is over, there are still a lot of unresolved concerns over the vehicles that will be competing on Wednesday in Bahrain.
Teams used a lot of cunning in the photos they shared, the access journalists were granted, and—most importantly—cameras. They will want to hold onto their newest creations for as long as possible.
Williams only displayed their new livery at their launch instead of showcasing their newest vehicle.
Given Red Bull’s dominance of the 2023 season, all eyes will be on them as they go to Bahrain.
Adrian Newey and company might have easily continued with what worked well the previous season, but they also understand that their opponents won’t stand still.
It’s not the automobile floor, which was most likely not the actual object.
Rather, when Damon Hill saw their plans, he was taken aback by a feature of the car.
Red Bull Racing/Oracle Red Bull Racing RB20 Car Launch Image courtesy of Mark Thompson/Getty Images
Sticking with the Red Bull twist in 2023 would have been simple.
“We go back a little bit further into the different sidepod inlet which is one part that has properly thrown me a little bit,” Anderson remarked, analyzing Red Bull’s most recent offering.
I think there are two out of three causes. It’s one of these stuff where they tried to open up the sidepod undercut all last year by elevating the top and the underneath of the radiator intake upward.
And they most likely reached a limit on how high they could raise it because the top surface of the sidepod top shelf is level with the top of the chassis, meaning that an inlet of some kind is clearly required there.
The radiator inlet’s lower edge was likely 50 millimeters below the top of the chassis since they had climbed as high as they could.
And because of what they’ve accomplished thus far, they can raise that right up and only utilize the top surface, making their sidepod undercut much, much larger. I guess you could call it deeper.
“Therefore, it has increased their mass flow through that undercut area.”
If Red Bull is able to solve a problem that Mercedes was unable to with a similar notion, their sidepods may become a major talking point well into 2024. Experts such as Anderson will be closely examining any slight modifications they see over the coming weeks.
After leading the team for several years, Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez aren’t afraid to voice their opinions if they believe the team is headed in the wrong path.
They could, of course, easily undo these modifications and return to their 2023 vehicle, and they would most likely still be among the fastest on the race.
