Red Bull RB7 Renault

[marcush.]

nice there were no issues with running the blistering tires, you could say the decision was the right one???

Pirelli was telling RB that damage could cause break up of sidewall and there was no ways to tell how close to disaster they were.They proposed a setup change and run the front within 4°of camber .RB decided not to follow the recommendation and put pirelli in a bad situation.

It was certainly a high risk ,especially when your statement is:we just were after a points finish....I understand that manufacturers recommendations are very errm conservative especially with pirelli ..but to me the decision of running the blistered tyres AND marginal camber settings was a tad brave....a blowout would be expected in Blanchimont or Eau Rouge ..not in la source.
One Michael Schumacher lost a Championship due to breaking a bone in a F1 accident.

[gridwalker]

Unfortunately, the RB7 has been so dominant under Vettel that I think he could still break both legs and limp away on crutches with the championship in his pocket.

[marcush.]

Unfortunately, the RB7 has been so dominant under Vettel that I think he could still break both legs and limp away on crutches with the championship in his pocket.

exactly ..why put yourself under that stress then having your most unnerving race odf your lifetime with safety concerns ? Mind you Newey lost Ayrton Senna in one of his race cars possibly due to a safety issue /tyre blowout..In a situation of
a championship in very safe state I would at least have erred towards a Webber style soft -medium strategy.´But then ..it worked out .Next time more risk? gambling ends usually with a total loss in the end ,I was told.
The bank is who is making the money..(Bernie in that case)...

[munudeges]

No matter what anyone says no one races for points finishes when a win is possible. The car went through qualifying as it was so it can't have been completely unsafe to have ran a few extra laps. That's part of being a racing team and part of being a racing driver.

I was very impressed with the RB7 yesterday and other teams will have been pretty downcast regarding the work they would have done during the break to try and catch up. Spa is a circuit where Red Bull haven't and shouldn't have been as dominant as they were based on past form because of the straight line performance and horsepower you generally need there.

Straight line performance has not been Red Bull's strong point due to the downforce and extra drag they probably generate, but also because of a power disadvantage with the Renault and the fact that their KERS is smaller and has less power than other teams. However, they seemed to have overcome those historical disadvantages by creating less drag and having more downforce than anyone else as well as having reliable KERS. They've completed some impressive work during the break and other teams seem to be firmly behind again.

If they go well at Monza then it doesn't bode well for other teams next season if the Renault engine was somehow to get more power (there will be more Renault teams on the grid next season to vote for equalisation and engine changes) and they get more power out of that small KERS unit as they improve it.

[raymondu999]

I think primarily, their chassis still carries a lot of drag and downforce. But they have SO MUCH downforce, that they can afford to back the wing off massively to lose a huge portion of drag, while they still carry a lot of downforce.

[Robbobnob]

draggy Compared to the Mclaren and the Mercedes?

I agree, however the Red Bull has better airflow management, in the sense that the air interacting with the car is being harvested for downforce much more carefully than the competitors cars. Hence why they are able to peel off wing to their whim.

Cars like the McLaren are less draggy but are not utilising the airflow it is shedding, therefore not lacking in downforce produced

[marcush.]

No matter what anyone says no one races for points finishes when a win is possible. The car went through qualifying as it was so it can't have been completely unsafe to have ran a few extra laps. That's part of being a racing team and part of being a racing driver.

I was very impressed with the RB7 yesterday and other teams will have been pretty downcast regarding the work they would have done during the break to try and catch up. Spa is a circuit where Red Bull haven't and shouldn't have been as dominant as they were based on past form because of the straight line performance and horsepower you generally need there.

Straight line performance has not been Red Bull's strong point due to the downforce and extra drag they probably generate, but also because of a power disadvantage with the Renault and the fact that their KERS is smaller and has less power than other teams. However, they seemed to have overcome those historical disadvantages by creating less drag and having more downforce than anyone else as well as having reliable KERS. They've completed some impressive work during the break and other teams seem to be firmly behind again.

If they go well at Monza then it doesn't bode well for other teams next season if the Renault engine was somehow to get more power (there will be more Renault teams on the grid next season to vote for equalisation and engine changes) and they get more power out of that small KERS unit as they improve it.

I beg to differ here Seg .

Racing is not about taking uncalculable risks -see flying arrows in LeMans a few years back-
Racing is dangerous and the good teams and drivers DO NOT PUT their drivers at risk.If I had the feeling the car was unsafe -I would retire the car on the spot.
And so should Newey.
You just don´t stand at the pitwall as a seasoned chief technical officer and bite your nails HOPING all will turn out fine .Ask X about his idea about that..very weak and useless.
Of course you go out and want to win .But just because it panned out as it did does not say it was a good or well calculated decision as you don´t know how close to disaster they were.A blow out in Eau rouge would have been a zero points finish ..at the very best.I thought RedBull had a special risk management guy on board? Oh ,rememeber he left the team going to Ferarri last year..

[Rino]

Spa is a circuit where Red Bull haven't and shouldn't have been as dominant as they were based on past form because of the straight line performance and horsepower you generally need there.

Straight line performance has not been Red Bull's strong point due to the downforce and extra drag they probably generate, but also because of a power disadvantage with the Renault and the fact that their KERS is smaller and has less power than other teams.

If they go well at Monza then it doesn't bode well for other teams next season if the Renault engine was somehow to get more power (there will be more Renault teams on the grid next season to vote for equalisation and engine changes) and they get more power out of that small KERS unit as they improve it.

The whole debate about the Renault engine and the shortage of power and Horner's oral diarrhea irritates me...

[munudeges]

I'm afraid the evidence is pretty clear given their performances at certain tracks that the Renault's top end power just isn't competitive, and there are even some fairly hard figures that were taken with what should be the same homologated engines at the end of 2009.

http://f1numbers.wordpress.com/2009/12/ ... -fuel-use/

At the time it was three tenths of a second, and things will have moved on a bit since then. Even Jenson Button was mystified by even the Mercedes team's top end speed at Spa and that can't simply be explained away by drag. They were staying ahead when even those behind had their wings open.

I know this irritates and gets some people upset but I have never seen it refuted other through people simply stating that it's wrong and 'diarrhea'.

[marcush.]

seg I´m afraid ,Webber had 308 trap speed in the race and was quickest ....hardly possible with an engine low down on power .Vettel 304.

I don´t think the Mercedes powered safety car was giving him THAT tow...

Drag has a lot more influence than power + the Kemmel straight is steeply up so a power deficit would be very very obvious but clearly Webber and Vettel were able to overtake .

I said it before and i´m prepared to repeat:the differences in max power may or may not be 20 or 30 or 50 hp ...it just does not matter .The interesting bit is how much you are able to translate into laptime.

[raymondu999]

I don't think that's a very good way to see it tbh. THe speed trap is at Raidillon so it's more the speed they're carrying through eau rouge rather than proper end of straight speed

[Lurk]

+1 marcush concerning drag vs power influence: 735 vs 750 hp on the same car should provide something like a 1 or 2km/h advantage at 310km/h, no more.

[timbo]

+1 marcush concerning drag vs power influence: 735 vs 750 hp on the same car should provide something like a 1 or 2km/h advantage at 310km/h, no more.

More like 3 actually lol

[marcush.]

the effective engine power is pushing not only against the wind..just put an additional % of transmission loss into the equation and your 3km/h is only 2....come up with an engine that´s running a tad hot and you need to open a shutter in the sidepod ...

[Pandamasque]

Have anyone noticed this wrinkled surface around the cockpit? Is it a badly applied sticker or...?

(Spa qualifying)