It’s no coincidence that the Red Bull car is the fastest on the straights

On the straights, Red Bull Racing’s car is capable of a higher top speed than competing vehicles, and they say it’s not just about the aerodynamic efficiency of the chassis. Rumor has it that the ground clearance of the RB18 on straight lines may decrease.

The German edition of Auto Motor und Sport writes about this, citing the following statistics: at nine of the 17 circuits where races have already taken place this year, Red Bull cars have been fastest on the straights. In four cases Williams FW44 was ahead by this indicator, but it does not differ in downforce, which of course affects the results of the circle as a whole. However, the RB18 can also corner well.

Although Max Verstappen finished only seventh in Singapore, it was he who showed the fastest speeds on the urban circuit, notably he was faster than the Ferrari drivers at 5.5 km / h and 7.9 km / h, the Mercedes drivers with 4.8 and 6.7 km/h km/h

In the final phase of the Singapore Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel fought on track with Lewis Hamilton and Verstappen. And if he managed to stop the Mercedes driver’s attack for 18 laps, then Verstappen would only need one lap to get ahead of Aston Martin, the four-time world champion.

“It was impossible to defend against Red Bull. The back of their car is pressed against the track and Max just flies past it,” Sebastian said after the finish. An unnamed engineer from his team also drew attention at the moment. : “Look at the dynamics of the Red Bull car on the straights: they really accelerate in the second half of these sections of the track.”

And this is what Charles Leclerc said: “It’s not just about aerodynamics. This must be explained by a mechanical solution.”

At the same time, Red Bull cars have not been particularly fast on the straights in the past and insufficient engine power was cited as an explanation, but as early as 2021 Honda power plants were reaching Ferrari and Mercedes levels in efficiency. However, the Mercedes W12 was the fastest on the straights, and this was achieved by the features of the aerodynamic body kit.

But with the move to a new generation of ground effect cars, ground clearance has noticeably decreased and Red Bull Racing engineers led by Adrian Newey have managed to build the most efficient chassis, using some tricky solutions. .

Cars that change ground clearance depending on speed have been in Formula 1 before, but it is much more difficult to achieve this effect under current technical regulations. Hydraulic systems that interact with the undercarriage are prohibited. A purely mechanical solution, based only on the use of traditional shock absorbers and springs, which could reduce ground clearance under load, seems too complicated.

However, Red Bull somehow managed to implement it. As one of the Mercedes specialists noted: “When the Red Bull car is stationary, it has the greatest ground clearance at the rear, but at high speeds it is minimal. To implement such a solution in a traditional chassis design, it would be weight had to be increased. Plus it would take up space. There was no extra space in the layout of our chassis and we couldn’t afford the weight increase.”

Moreover, whatever such a solution is, it is not suitable for all tracks. Where fast corners dominate, don’t reduce the ride height too much.

However, it appears that Red Bull has successfully tackled all difficulties and the team’s results confirm this. Most likely, it was because of this solution, built into the suspension design, that their car was too heavy at the beginning of the season, but this problem was gradually solved. And reducing the weight of the chassis automatically increases the speeds.