2021 Red Bull Racing F1 Team

[PlatinumZealot]

Honda and Renault will have to figure out this solution before the big freeze.

[raymondu999]

Mercedes is boasting about the gains and Honda remains tight lipped regarding engine gains

I don’t think we should look too much into this part. Honda came in the sport guns blazing with their size zero etc — and got blasted to shreds for it. It’s very Japanese of them to tone down expectations now after the bruising they got

[Dee]

Looking at the released cars with Mercedes engine, I noticed something.

Mercedes and Aston Martin have the bulge from the supposedly re-engineered air intake plenum clearly visible while McLaren has a somewhat more concealed approach. Considering the fact that these three teams run the same engine, there is more than one approach to work around the redesigned air plenum.

Now from the RB16B studio photos and the rb16 studio photos, the area where the Mercedes bulge is situated, the Red Bull bodywork on the 16B also appears more bulky than the 16 in that area. Somewhat comparable to the McLaren bodywork.

Maybe (just maybe) Honda has had their take on another air plenum as well. Since the new Mercedes air plenum was mentioned on this forum as early as October 2020, I can’t imagine RBR/Honda not knowing about this.

Mercedes is boasting about the gains and Honda remains tight lipped regarding engine gains

Mudflap said the rumours going around about Honda upgrade is 40 HP

[etusch]

At first there were engine freeze and merc started the era with big advantage of power and freeze shield which saved them from development competition of rivals at some level for a while. Then token system only allowed for rivals to develop with small steps.
Now it would be great/ironic to see more powerfull engine from Honda and a mercedes with lesser power with tied hand under engine freeze rule.

[Just_a_fan]

Now it would be great/ironic to see more powerfull engine from Honda and a mercedes with lesser power with tied hand under engine freeze rule.

That wouldn't be ironic. What would be ironic would be RedBull having a frozen engine that is behind the rest after RedBull pushed for the engine freeze. That would almost be a definition of irony.

If RedBull do end up with the more powerful engine, it will be good for a year or two and then expect to see people complaining about dominance etc.

[MKlaus]

At first there were engine freeze and merc started the era with big advantage of power and freeze shield which saved them from development competition of rivals at some level for a while. Then token system only allowed for rivals to develop with small steps.
Now it would be great/ironic to see more powerfull engine from Honda and a mercedes with lesser power with tied hand under engine freeze rule.

if honda ends up with more power, it would not be by a big margin like mercedes ended up with in 2014. it would be around 15 to 20 HPs at most. mercedes is probably the best chassis builder on the grid too and they can manage that power deficit with a better chassis. they did that in 2019 when Ferrari had more powerful engine. red bull has struggled to build class leading chassis in the past few years. so its not a guarantee that red bull will outperform mercedes. it would be a good scenario for F1 if the whole package is on par for both teams.

[nzjrs]

If RedBull do end up with the more powerful engine, it will be good for a year or two and then expect to see people complaining about dominance etc.

People are wildly tribal. I expect the new standard for dominance to be "the same number of years as mercedes + 1" as it was for the Mercedes tribe to the RB and Ferarri tribe.

[SiLo]

At first there were engine freeze and merc started the era with big advantage of power and freeze shield which saved them from development competition of rivals at some level for a while. Then token system only allowed for rivals to develop with small steps.
Now it would be great/ironic to see more powerfull engine from Honda and a mercedes with lesser power with tied hand under engine freeze rule.

I very much doubt this would be a reality.

[Wouter]

At first there were engine freeze and merc started the era with big advantage of power and freeze shield which saved them from development competition of rivals at some level for a while. Then token system only allowed for rivals to develop with small steps.
Now it would be great/ironic to see more powerfull engine from Honda and a mercedes with lesser power with tied hand under engine freeze rule.

.
I very much doubt this would be a reality.

I am almost certain that this will be the reality. Finally!

[etusch]

At first there were engine freeze and merc started the era with big advantage of power and freeze shield which saved them from development competition of rivals at some level for a while. Then token system only allowed for rivals to develop with small steps.
Now it would be great/ironic to see more powerfull engine from Honda and a mercedes with lesser power with tied hand under engine freeze rule.

I very much doubt this would be a reality.

Many forumer thinks that Honda's main deficit to Mercedes is their ers. Maybe it is not main but only one. Who knows. If it were only one and sorted out then Honda will be best. For now nobody knows it.

[Slo Poke]

At first there were engine freeze and merc started the era with big advantage of power and freeze shield which saved them from development competition of rivals at some level for a while. Then token system only allowed for rivals to develop with small steps.
Now it would be great/ironic to see more powerfull engine from Honda and a mercedes with lesser power with tied hand under engine freeze rule.

I very much doubt this would be a reality.

Many forumer thinks that Honda's main deficit to Mercedes is their ers. Maybe it is not main but only one. Who knows. If it were only one and sorted out then Honda will be best. For now nobody knows it.

The RedBull car will have undergone upgrades in five areas, none of which include their formidable driver pairing.

[El Scorchio]

Basically, all barring one team are going to be upset when the engine freeze comes in. It's going to be intriguing to see where the power will lie and you'd hope it's competitive, but the thing that concerns me is Ferrari seem happy. (Despite where they now sit in the pecking order) I wouldn't be surprised at all to see them coincidentally having a very strong engine in 2022. Honda/RBR and Mercedes could both have been played.

[godlameroso]

I don’t know if Honda will have the strongest engine. I do know the RA21H is a good step forward. I do know, other teams aren't standing still.

I do expect that the gap to Mercedes is smaller. Only way they keep the engine advantage is if they have another similar gain from 2019 -> 2020 in 2021. While lightning can strike twice it's unlikely.

[ringo]

Mercedes is a moving target.
They have a new turbo and new engine block. With thst new block they can run the engine for more damage cycles before failure meaning run it at higher power levels.
So they will hsve more power than 2020, and be able to use for most races right through the season. Honda will not be close.

[Pany]

Logic tells Mercedes engineering will improove one more step, probabilmente with less gain than last year. Honda will improove troppo, because they modify and optimise the whole pu, as they stated. I expet, the gap to Mercedes to be still there, but narrower. Now redbul has better pair drivers. I think the key factor for title winning will reside in the one capable to recover the fia aerodynamic downforce cut