Vanja #66 wrote: ↑04 Aug 2023, 13:47
djos wrote: ↑04 Aug 2023, 10:24
Lol, indeed. It's pretty clear their "Philosophy" is the secret sauce - ie, not chasing peak downforce, but aiming for stable, overall usable downforce.
As they say in my industry, perfection is the enemy of good.
Yes, philosophy is optimal and everything is oriented towards achieveing a perfectly stable car in as many conditions as possible. However, one more thing stands out and makes the "philosophy" work even better.
Just_a_fan wrote: ↑04 Aug 2023, 11:36
So...what is the secret sauce?
Wolff hinted at it after the first day of Bahrain testing
The car is still running lower than any other car can, no matter how much work they put into susprnsion redesign, different compression rates, non-linear travel, etc.
There's one more thing preventing other teams from running lower and they aren't silent about it - plank wear. It's now confirmed RB are running the car slower on straights and in high-speed corners in races very often to avoid accessive plank wear so they could gain time in slower corners. A very sensible trade-off that also saves the PU a bit! If there's a secret sauce thoug, it's something about the plank installation, giving it more yield in the places where the wear is measured.
While I can see what is meant here, I will offer a counter view.
RB didn't have a problem 2022, with original geometry and specifics of FIA enacted at that race in regard to controlling ride height etc. It absolutely trounced allcomers comprehensively in it's effectiveness.
Cut to this year, now with floor lift @ 15mm and throat of venturi lifted by 10mm (think that's correct dimensions mandated in design change) and still it can run really wherever they place it, ultimately with that pace advantage still in tact.
The other's, if they are not running low with risk if plank wear is not because RB have "falsified" plank mountings or whatever conjecture may produce, it's because most when lowered encounter "bouncing" as its now euphemistically called apparently.
These are very different reasons, there's not much the other teams appear to be able to access, without incurring aero accumulated problems they are either unable to solve or which they still don't understand.
The problem the opposition have is that they can't run as low if they wanted to, not the control of plank wear. It maybe true that there's more tolerance to plank rigidity, that's not the driver of the performance we see. It's a red herring in performance terms.