Red Bull RB6

[Pierce89]

The wet conditions tend to negate all the ride height and aero benefits and even the competition. IMO RB simply got the tactics of the race wrong and made the wrong calls.

Yer, it's pretty difficult to compare the car performance in uneven conditions and ask whether that will be repeated in coming races. Somehow, I doubt it. In Malaysia RB made the right tactical calls, especially in qualifying, and got the best possible result.

Agreed RB botched the race. The car is not slow all of a sudden.

[ringo]

Do you guys think the RB6 is especially sensitive to dirty air, or is it just a bad case of traffic? Vettel and Webber said that they had good pace in clear air, but behind others they were suffering. Or is it just a case of the quick German kid not being very good with overtaking?

I did not notice much of a difference compared to other cars in the wet.
The wet conditions tend to negate all the ride height and aero benefits and even the competition. IMO RB simply got the tactics of the race wrong and made the wrong calls.

What i notice is that the car accelerates very fast out of the turns, especially in the wet. I was watching Vettel and the car had no drama exiting, even offline. Traction is very good and stability is very good in the wet as well.
Redbull may have geared the car for acceleration this race. I think the red bull is still the best wet weather car, though this race it was not as obvious. Sectors 1 and 2 tell the story though.

[thestig84]

Yeah I think it was a error somewhere on setup after seeing a Webber interview he said we know what happened and what we need to do to fix it. Made it sound like a wrong decision as he sounded very confident that it wasnt a big issue.

[gibells]

How have Red Bull got away with using an outboard mirror when they should have been replaced (with inboards) by China's race? Does anyone know what the revised ruling is that has allowed them to continue with them, or does the ruling have some kind of dimension attached to it?

[Sambo]

How have Red Bull got away with using an outboard mirror when they should have been replaced (with inboards) by China's race? Does anyone know what the revised ruling is that has allowed them to continue with them, or does the ruling have some kind of dimension attached to it?

They dont have to change them until Spain. It was china origonally, but then got changed to Spain as a number of teams said it was too little time to change them!!!

[gibells]

How have Red Bull got away with using an outboard mirror when they should have been replaced (with inboards) by China's race? Does anyone know what the revised ruling is that has allowed them to continue with them, or does the ruling have some kind of dimension attached to it?

They dont have to change them until Spain. It was china origonally, but then got changed to Spain as a number of teams said it was too little time to change them!!!

Ahh ok. Thanks Sambo mate.

[forty-two]

How have Red Bull got away with using an outboard mirror when they should have been replaced (with inboards) by China's race? Does anyone know what the revised ruling is that has allowed them to continue with them, or does the ruling have some kind of dimension attached to it?

They dont have to change them until Spain. It was china origonally, but then got changed to Spain as a number of teams said it was too little time to change them!!!

I was thinking about this today, and given the ash-cloud problems, I wonder how many teams will claim that they couldn't change their mirrors in time for Barcelona because they lost a week trying to get their gear back from China?

[Shrek]

I was thinking about this today, and given the ash-cloud problems, I wonder how many teams will claim that they couldn't change their mirrors in time for Barcelona because they lost a week trying to get their gear back from China?

Well I listened to the news and it said that the volcano right beside it will most likely blow soon so it might take a couple more days for it to settle.

[segedunum]

What i notice is that the car accelerates very fast out of the turns, especially in the wet. I was watching Vettel and the car had no drama exiting, even offline.

Yer, subjectively traction and acceleration looked pretty good.

Redbull may have geared the car for acceleration this race.

That seems pretty logical. Given their lack of straight line speed the only defence they would seem to have open is to try and accelerate to their greatest top speed faster than others. I'll be interested to see what F-duct/blown wing concept they end up coming up with. Mercedes and Renault already seem to have discounted any ducting and are experimenting with various blown wings. I can't see there being any space for ducting in any of Newey's cars.

[raymondu999]

Prototype outboard mirror for the bulls. It looks just iike the "normal" McLaren one with a straight mounting, not the "elbowed" mounting we see on the Renault/Mercedes

[wrcsti]

Gotta love the mounting.

[raymondu999]

to be fair that was a prototype though. That wasn't the real thing. I wonder what they'll do with the mirrors though... are we going to see some Newey magic?

[myurr]

I think the red bull is still the best wet weather car, though this race it was not as obvious. Sectors 1 and 2 tell the story though.

With the setups run in China I'd say the McLaren was slightly better, but Red Bull had the second best car out there with Ferrari just behind them. The McLaren was quicker in sectors 1 and 3 with Red Bull quicker in sector 2, although that could have just been a factor of where the drivers were looking to conserve their tyres.

The McLaren had awesome front end grip and good overall balance, but only reasonably good traction. The Red Bull seemed to be lacking a bit at the front but was definitely quicker coming out of the corners. Could be purely gearing though, the McLaren has to gear for a higher top speed after all.

One thing I did notice though was that once Lewis and Vettel cleared Sutil (I think it was Sutil, when Lewis overtook Vettel and a FI through the hairpin), and again after both clearing the next driver on track: over the next lap Lewis was 1 second faster, but the subsequent laps about 0.3 or so faster. Was Red Bull having issues getting heat back into the tyres, taking them an extra lap to get back up to speed?

[segedunum]

I think we'll see the best of them at European races where downforce is really vital after the chaotic Asian races we've had, but it's not as if they can rest easy for three weeks.

They looked fast initially in China but their tyres fell of a cliff thereafter, they paradoxically had trouble getting heat and pressure into their tyres after restarts and their straight line speed now needs to be an area of improvement even though subsequent tracks won't show it as much. Newey can't just do what he's done in the past where he's maximised downforce and then bullied the engine manufacturers he's partnered with to simply improve their power. Engine homologation won't allow that.

The Renault engine is really not as bad as they say, there is no way in hell it is 30 or 40 horsepower down on the Mercedes, I'm distrustful of the relationship they have with Renault as Renault always seem to get it in the neck (morale might be an issue?) and no, I can't see that they would run over the horizon if they had somehow procured a Mercedes engine supply.

The car is fast, but we'll see how they navigate their technical issues from Barcelona.

[raymondu999]

Hey all. We know quite well that the RB6 seems to be very hard on its tyres. Is this something that can actually be addressed in the car's upgrades, or does it need a complete rework of the existing car philosophy?