Red Bull RB18

[Dee]

It's weight related. Which is why the car is fast in High speed corners but not in traction zones. RB can't add ballast to the front thus they have to run lower downforce due to balance.

It's not just weight (btw didnt they loose 6-7kg this weekend?), the car is limited with front downforce, the balance is to much to the rear due to overall aero concept. Juzh pointed this out very early in race threads, even after Bahrain FP1/2... Helmut Marko also mentioned their sidepods from solved a lot of understeer problems which launch spec had, and yet they still have understeer.

When they were taking the Q picture, Max was saying it goes from understeer to oversteer, there is no balance. It didn't seem like he was worried mainly about understeer. In the press conference he said that he works on a base setup in the simulator but when he gets to the track he faces difficulties and he needs to understand why.

[ing.]

Red Bull's floor after FP1. A very unique bargeboard layout and well-refined diffusion tunnel as well. Are the silver strakes legal? The diffusion curve and CoP could probably be determined through these two images.

https://i.imgur.com/LGvSpN7.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/XhvP8YR.jpg

[godlameroso]

Probably the tires, they get out of the window.

[Juzh]

It's weight related. Which is why the car is fast in High speed corners but not in traction zones. RB can't add ballast to the front thus they have to run lower downforce due to balance.

It's not just weight (btw didnt they loose 6-7kg this weekend?), the car is limited with front downforce, the balance is to much to the rear due to overall aero concept. Juzh pointed this out very early in race threads, even after Bahrain FP1/2... Helmut Marko also mentioned their sidepods from solved a lot of understeer problems which launch spec had, and yet they still have understeer.

I'd say understeer was less apparent in melbourne than in previous races, so they must be doing something to solve it. Car also has very good peak downforce as verstappen is faster than leclerc in high speed T6 and T9-10 (220+ kmh corners), so the understeer can't be that bad, not at those speeds. Problems seems to be corners below 200 kmh and in general the car looks more and more like a boat the slower the corner gets. I don't believe any major weight loss occurred based on those observations. Marko did say they're shedding weight in Imola, but then some reporter said it's happening already in melbourne.. so mostly just rumours, nothing confirmed.

[AR3-GP]

The car seems to struggle with rotation on exit of T13. Ferrari gets turned and to the left side of track for T14 very readily. Verstappen really struggles to switch back before T13. Car seems to just plow to the right towards pitlane.

That makes the launch onto the start finish straight quite poor and this will make overtaking impossible.

[ringo]

Red Bull's floor after FP1. A very unique bargeboard layout and well-refined diffusion tunnel as well. Are the silver strakes legal? The diffusion curve and CoP could probably be determined through these two images.

https://i.imgur.com/LGvSpN7.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/XhvP8YR.jpg

A lot of pressure sensors or are they distance sensors or speed?
Very advanced design. I do wonder if the metal vanes by the rear wheel is legal.

[Mchamilton]

Red Bull's floor after FP1. A very unique bargeboard layout and well-refined diffusion tunnel as well. Are the silver strakes legal? The diffusion curve and CoP could probably be determined through these two images.

https://i.imgur.com/LGvSpN7.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/XhvP8YR.jpg

A lot of pressure sensors or are they distance sensors or speed?
Very advanced design. I do wonder if the metal vanes by the rear wheel is legal.

The metal vane near the rear wheel falls into the floor edge wing legality box and seems to fullfill all of the regs related to that

[vorticism]

It's weight related. Which is why the car is fast in High speed corners but not in traction zones. RB can't add ballast to the front thus they have to run lower downforce due to balance.

It's not just weight (btw didnt they loose 6-7kg this weekend?), the car is limited with front downforce, the balance is to much to the rear due to overall aero concept. Juzh pointed this out very early in race threads, even after Bahrain FP1/2... Helmut Marko also mentioned their sidepods from solved a lot of understeer problems which launch spec had, and yet they still have understeer.

I'd say understeer was less apparent in melbourne than in previous races, so they must be doing something to solve it. Car also has very good peak downforce as verstappen is faster than leclerc in high speed T6 and T9-10 (220+ kmh corners), so the understeer can't be that bad, not at those speeds. Problems seems to be corners below 200 kmh and in general the car looks more and more like a boat the slower the corner gets. I don't believe any major weight loss occurred based on those observations. Marko did say they're shedding weight in Imola, but then some reporter said it's happening already in melbourne.. so mostly just rumours, nothing confirmed.

They might just have a low-downforce philosophy. Seems to be the case so far, trading top speed for cornering speed. Low downforce design probably helps with porpoising i.e. it's not just about suspension tricks.

[godlameroso]

The car seems to struggle with rotation on exit of T13. Ferrari gets turned and to the left side of track for T14 very readily. Verstappen really struggles to switch back before T13. Car seems to just plow to the right towards pitlane.

That makes the launch onto the start finish straight quite poor and this will make overtaking impossible.

Sounds like he has low caster settings. Little camber gain under lock can induce low speed understeer.

[DinkLv]

Red Bull's floor after FP1. A very unique bargeboard layout and well-refined diffusion tunnel as well. Are the silver strakes legal? The diffusion curve and CoP could probably be determined through these two images.

https://i.imgur.com/LGvSpN7.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/XhvP8YR.jpg

A lot of pressure sensors or are they distance sensors or speed?
Very advanced design. I do wonder if the metal vanes by the rear wheel is legal.

Seems like pressure taps in the key downforce-producing areas, including the back side of bargeboards, as well as the kink-line of the diffuser.

[vorticism]

That 'edge wing' striking the ground:

[AR3-GP]

That 'edge wing' striking the ground:

https://www.racefans.net/wp-content/upl ... b_news.jpg

Basically the edge wing strikes the ground in body roll. It's metal. It's a ride height limiter imo.

For comparison, the Ferrari starts porpoising heavily with the body roll in the T8-T9 straight.They do not have such a ride height limiter under the floor.

[aleks_ader]

Comparing the images of the RB and Merc floors. The merc looks to have a completely flat tunnel roof whereas the RB looks like it has a convex roof through the throat area.
Would the convex roof be better for maintaining more stable vortices?

It also depends where you want to place the vortex, but yes, convex surface increases the pressure difference which strengthens the vortex.

So smooth radii maintain flow vector a bit higher, correct? Hence pressure drop is not so severe and turbulent transition is delayed.

[SiLo]

Red Bull's floor after FP1. A very unique bargeboard layout and well-refined diffusion tunnel as well. Are the silver strakes legal? The diffusion curve and CoP could probably be determined through these two images.

https://i.imgur.com/LGvSpN7.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/XhvP8YR.jpg

This hump is also tapered upwards towards the floor, it's not a complete blockage so it's hard to saw if it will roll off a vortex from it at all. Likely will disrupt the airflow in the area directly behind it though

[godlameroso]

Red Bull's floor after FP1. A very unique bargeboard layout and well-refined diffusion tunnel as well. Are the silver strakes legal? The diffusion curve and CoP could probably be determined through these two images.

https://i.imgur.com/LGvSpN7.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/XhvP8YR.jpg

This hump is also tapered upwards towards the floor, it's not a complete blockage so it's hard to saw if it will roll off a vortex from it at all. Likely will disrupt the airflow in the area directly behind it though

What if you were using the plank area to generate the majority of your downforce? Then you could get away with allowing more airflow through the tunnels. Could explain why RB doesn't make their throats as narrow as possible, and why the plank area is so wide.