Red Bull RB20

[michl420]

For me, it looks like the "conventional" engine cover is now the standard, and the "high shoulder" engine cover will disappear quickly and will be back maybe just in las vegas.

[stewie325]

For me, it looks like the "conventional" engine cover is now the standard, and the "high shoulder" engine cover will disappear quickly and will be back maybe just in las vegas.

Slightly odd because it was supposed to be only for high downforce tracks (it was introduced in Hungary and dropped the next race for Belgium).

I don't think of Brazil as a pure high DF track - there are two quite long stretches where you need low drag for higher top speed.

[marcel171281]

For me, it looks like the "conventional" engine cover is now the standard, and the "high shoulder" engine cover will disappear quickly and will be back maybe just in las vegas.

Slightly odd because it was supposed to be only for high downforce tracks (it was introduced in Hungary and dropped the next race for Belgium).

I don't think of Brazil as a pure high DF track - there are two quite long stretches where you need low drag for higher top speed.

But the weather prediction were already 100% rain a week ago, so high DF was always the way to go.

[stewie325]

For me, it looks like the "conventional" engine cover is now the standard, and the "high shoulder" engine cover will disappear quickly and will be back maybe just in las vegas.

Slightly odd because it was supposed to be only for high downforce tracks (it was introduced in Hungary and dropped the next race for Belgium).

I don't think of Brazil as a pure high DF track - there are two quite long stretches where you need low drag for higher top speed.

But the weather prediction were already 100% rain a week ago, so high DF was always the way to go.

Ah, fair point, and clever if that was their reasoning.

[organic]

[Z-one]

[organic]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Gc86-6_akAA ... name=large

The 2nd floor fence extended above the floor has been a feature on the w15 all season. Borrowing some ideas

You can see the way the carbon has been filetted on that floor fence as well, so the sense of the vortex is apparent

[Lasssept]

https://x.com/robertofunoat/status/1860 ... nximg&s=19

https://x.com/diegofmejia/status/185997 ... LLdyA&s=19

[KimiRai]

[AR3-GP]

Red Bull showed their R22 update at the Las Vegas GP. The update included a revised forward floor fence geometry changing the height and placement of the fence forward surface. From what I’ve been told, the aim of this update is to have better forward floor extraction resulting in more outwash to the forward floor edge. This improved extraction and outwash MAY result in,

Improved forward balance with better forward floor load. More on the nose feel.
better front Tyre wake control with improved edge outwash
Less ride height sensitivity for better overall setup balance

[SirBastianVettel]

[venkyhere]

I think the RB20 has a 'baked in' problem.
'Stiffer than others' suspension.

Speculation :
Which in turn, is due to high sensitivity of the floor, to ride height. This is why the RB20 has the most aggressive anti-dive and anti-squat (comparing to others) in it's wishbone geometry.
What is the price paid ? less mechanical grip with harder compound tyres (because tyre carcass flex is also part of suspension behavior) , that gets exacerbated in slow corners (low help from aero grip) and in kerb riding (which, due to stiffness, disturbs the orientation of the floor so much, that the car becomes unstable aero-wise).
The team is clever enough to tweak things around and deal with S and M tyres (whichever out of C2 to C5 that Pirelli have chosen for a track) , but isn't able to compensate with such setup tricks and driving style adjustments, when it comes to H tyres (whichever out of C1 to C3 that Pirelli have chosen for a track). So Redbuil end up choosing the 'best compromised option' path by optimizing the car for S and M compounds, leaving the setup of the car sub-optimal with H compound, so that Q and one race stint are optimized.

This problem doesn't exist (or is feeble) for Ferrari and McLaren. However, their problems are with their floor geometry itself, because their floors are more 'yaw sensitive' and 'roll sensitive' than the Redbull (that's why they are poorer than Redbull in high speed corners and 'esses' that require back-to-back-to-back direction change oscillations, like in Suzuka sector1 or the snake in COTA). Their suspension design (that decides mechanical grip) is the ace up their sleeve over Redbull.

This is how I read the strength and weaknesses of the RB20.

[f1isgood]

I think the RB20 has a 'baked in' problem.
'Stiffer than others' suspension.

Speculation :
Which in turn, is due to high sensitivity of the floor, to ride height. This is why the RB20 has the most aggressive anti-dive and anti-squat (comparing to others) in it's wishbone geometry.
What is the price paid ? less mechanical grip with harder compound tyres (because tyre carcass flex is also part of suspension behavior) , that gets exacerbated in slow corners (low help from aero grip) and in kerb riding (which, due to stiffness, disturbs the orientation of the floor so much, that the car becomes unstable aero-wise).
The team is clever enough to tweak things around and deal with S and M tyres (whichever out of C2 to C5 that Pirelli have chosen for a track) , but isn't able to compensate with such setup tricks and driving style adjustments, when it comes to H tyres (whichever out of C1 to C3 that Pirelli have chosen for a track). So Redbuil end up choosing the 'best compromised option' path by optimizing the car for S and M compounds, leaving the setup of the car sub-optimal with H compound, so that Q and one race stint are optimized.

This problem doesn't exist (or is feeble) for Ferrari and McLaren. However, their problems are with their floor geometry itself, because their floors are more 'yaw sensitive' and 'roll sensitive' than the Redbull (that's why they are poorer than Redbull in high speed corners and 'esses' that require back-to-back-to-back direction change oscillations, like in Suzuka sector1 or the snake in COTA). Their suspension design (that decides mechanical grip) is the ace up their sleeve over Redbull.

This is how I read the strength and weaknesses of the RB20.

On the high sensitivity to floor height, it was reported that 3mm caused the change between competing with a Haas and being competitive in the Grand Prix in Qatar.

It is a bit surprising this floor height thing because in 2022 Red Bull ran with a rake, and was in fact higher than others. Of course that changed after the FIA increased minimum floor height and the RB19 could run very low -- like the W13 wanted in Bahrain completely flipping the script. However, it's not like McLaren is that far behind though in downforce. It's also a good question of how sensitive the other floors are to ride height.

[Farnborough]

My understanding is that the tire carcass/structure doesn't change between compound, being the same except for tread gauge temperature range.

That they raise and lower pressure globally (all tires, all cars) for different tracks, suggests that correlation.

Effectively the tread gauge (heat range) specified in response to expected ambient + track surface temperature predicted. The pressure changes in response to the overall load to conserve the structure and it's component elements.

The combination of this is then responsible for what the teams see in adaptation of setup.