Team: Adrian Newey (CTO), Petr Prodromou (CA), Rob Marshall (CD), Christian Horner (TP) Drivers: Sebastian Vettel (1), Mark Webber (2), Sebastian Buemi (reserve) Team name: Infiniti Red Bull Racing
A place to discuss the characteristics of the cars in Formula One, both current as well as historical. Laptimes, driver worshipping and team chatter do not belong here.
raymondu999 wrote:I find it interesting that ever since Red Bull got the cross-under tunnel working for the first time in Valencia last year, they've been continuously shrinking the tunnel.
I suppose its like most ideas, once the concept is proven you refine it. So maybe the tunnel can be smaller as the amount air is reduced or occurs better, thanks to other developments. They're obviously all-in on this concept. It'll be interesting to see how much they can refine it.
I just find it very interesting that they started out with a small tunnel, then once they got it working with a big tunnel they've been constantly shrinking it. I suppose it's an indication that Newey feels the natural coke bottle loss was too much, compared to the gains they made in tunnel flow. We can see that behind the tunnel, Newey is starting to build up a natural coke bottle again - something they lost when they committed to this Coanda ramp design. I wonder if actually, the McLaren solution would be more in line with Newey's objectives, but he's maintaining the ramp and tunnel route because obviously, their rivals have a headstart in tuning the McLaren bulge exhausts - a headstart that could turn out decisive in the title battle.
I remember him saying something to that effect in 2012 about the noses. Given the choice, he might have gone for a non-stepped nose, but that would've meant giving McLaren a developmental headstart in that region
Nando wrote:Nice pics, you can even see the little tunnel drop down inside
it looks like the smaller tunnel (outboard) has some reflection from underneath the car, it should be dark in there . The air gets spinned while getting guided thrugh the channel. Once its leaving the floor on the underside it spinns and points towards the rearwheel and hence seals the floor in this area ?. This would allow them to go with more rake. The other channel may be for feeding the diffusor through the starter hole .
Seems this is the path of the smaller tunnel. I guess the question is if the tunnel pinches then expands rapidly or if it goes under the floor and then back up again.
Over a race distance a lot of stuff probably get stuck in there so the easiest way to remove that would be with a lid.
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"...and there, very much in flames, is Jacques Laffite's Ligier. That's obviously a turbo blaze, and of course, Laffite will be able to see that conflagration in his mirrors... he is coolly parking the car somewhere safe."Murray Walker, San Marino 1985
Rikhart wrote:It could also mean that fw flex is gone now. If they run that low when the car´s stopped, there is no room at all for any flexing.
What's your point though? The point of the flexing was to get the fw close to the ground. If it's close to the ground anyway, it doesn't matter that it's not flexing.
Rikhart wrote:It could also mean that fw flex is gone now. If they run that low when the car´s stopped, there is no room at all for any flexing.
What's your point though? The point of the flexing was to get the fw close to the ground. If it's close to the ground anyway, it doesn't matter that it's not flexing.
The actual matter is that FW shuld be flexible and change its angle at high speed to reduse drag.
That was the fw pivoting as McLaren pioneered in Valencia 2010. But the Red Bull fw flex of the past few years has been a different flex, along the fw lengthwise.
"...and there, very much in flames, is Jacques Laffite's Ligier. That's obviously a turbo blaze, and of course, Laffite will be able to see that conflagration in his mirrors... he is coolly parking the car somewhere safe."Murray Walker, San Marino 1985