After the transition to the new regulations in 2022, many cars suffered from roll on the straights, forcing engineers to increase suspension height at the expense of aerodynamic efficiency.
In 2022, some teams, including Mercedes, lobbied for a rule change to increase suspension height for safety reasons, which happened. But Red Bull chief designer Ben Waterhouse said his team only benefited from this.
Ben Waterhouse: “Two years ago it all came down to understanding the new rules and trying to optimize the car under new conditions. But there are still many unknowns. Yes, we know something about tires, we have an idea of how aerodynamics should work, but until you see the car on a real track, it is impossible to confirm the correctness of these calculations.
After spending the 2022 season with the RB18, we knew it was a good car, but with many limitations. And we knew exactly what we needed to improve to achieve more.
RB19 immediately started the season much better. It’s no secret that the RB18 was too heavy; the weight was higher than normal throughout the season. So the RB18 had a reserve of speed – and we achieved that with the RB19.
One of the problems with the RB18 was that the edges of the bottom often touched the asphalt, causing damage. So when the FIA announced that the suspension should be higher, that helped us enormously. We didn’t experience much rocking, but by increasing the suspension height we were able to avoid contact between the ground and the coating, which only benefited us.”
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
