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How Red Bull keeps improving its RB19 F1 car

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While its rivals are looking for ways to close the performance gap, Red Bull is not sitting still as work continues on a car that will evolve from last year’s dominant RB18.

Building on these solid foundations, and dealing with the new complexities brought about by new bottom line regulations, Red Bull focused on a few key areas to discover performance gains.

One of the main differences between last year’s Challenger and the RB19 is the location of the front suspension, with subtly revised components to improve various aspects.

Contrary to the heavy racing, Red Bull has opted for a pull-rod front suspension layout for the new generation of cars, while the rear returns to a push-rod layout for the first time since 2008, with Red Bull pivoting from 2009 to the end of the last regulation era, from the grid A massive shift to drawbars.

While the mechanics of the suspension are clearly still the dominant factor in the decision, the aerodynamics of the car are always a trade-off. With these new regulations, most tracks have opted for an upper wishbone layout similar to Red Bull’s, with the front arms mounted high on the chassis and the rear arms suspended low.

However, Red Bull does have a more extreme example. From a mechanical standpoint, not only does this help reduce dive under braking, but it also has an aerodynamic advantage, as the airflow is redirected to a more desirable location under and around the sidepods.

Red Bull Racing wheelbase comparison (anti-dive, inset)

Red Bull Racing wheelbase comparison (anti-dive, inset)

photographer: George Piola

Wishbone fairings offer an aerodynamic advantage as they have been tailored to further improve their flow characteristics. It’s something other teams have tried to build upon, with both Mercedes and Alfa Romeo resorting to chassis blisters to further enhance the effect.

But Red Bull has realized that the position of its front axle relative to the rest of the aerodynamic surface is suboptimal for 2022, and the whole assembly has been moved forward this season. Not only does this have a mechanical impact on the suspension layout, but also on the performance of the tires.

From an aerodynamic point of view, the movement of the axis changes the behavior of the turbulent wake created by the wheel assembly. This has resulted in Red Bull being able to make macro and micro changes to the aerodynamic surfaces upstream and downstream of components to extract more performance.

Its update push has officially begun in Australia as the Milton Keynes team revises the design of its front wing end panels and associated architecture to change the flow around the car’s front corners.

The end plates are now more curved at the top and mid-section, which provides more of a swooping plane for oncoming water. This should also improve flushing, which is probably why the team made tweaks to the inner flapping parts of the wings.

To make this tradeoff work, the new flaps on the top two elements of the wing are different in the middle of their span. More strings appear at the inboard end, and more camber all the way to the outboard regulator.

Red Bull quickly followed suit with a major change to its sidepod air intake design in Azerbaijan, with the air intake lowered to increase the size of the undercut but widened to maintain cooling capacity.

Red Bull Racing RB19 sidepod comparison, Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Red Bull Racing RB19 sidepod comparison, Azerbaijan Grand Prix

photographer: George Piola

The rest of the sidepod geometry has also been subtly tweaked as the body widens around the air intakes. This takes advantage of the extra space provided for the undercut to improve the physical interaction with the floor and its aerodynamic affinities.

To fully complement the changes made to the sidepods, attention was also paid to the geometry of the floor edges and the aerodynamic furniture mounted on them, all of which have been redesigned to improve their performance in line with the other changes.

To further capitalize on these efforts, changes were made to the exterior floor rails, with the top edge lightly massaged to better tune local airflow and take advantage of changes made downstream.

As other teams look to take the lead at Red Bull, they hope the size of the resources available to each team based on their championship position and penalties for breaching cost-cap rules prevents the pace at which RB19 can improve further. By then, Red Bull hopes, both world champions will be included.

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Sainz frustrated: 'I felt we had the speed'

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Carlos Sainz can look back on a disappointing game. The Spaniard damaged his front wing after a failed pass on Esteban Ocon, while the Monaco track was plagued by rain and the Ferrari driver spun at medium speed.

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Ocon: 'I have much respect for Aston Martin'

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Esteban Ocon had a great Sunday afternoon. Across the streets of Monaco, the Frenchman appeared to be at one with his Alps, which eventually even earned him a podium finish. Ocon told a news conference that he looked back on the weekend with a very good feeling.

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Perez “cannot afford another zero” in F1 2023 season

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The Red Bull driver was last in Sunday’s race and was out in Q1 qualifying.

He went on to make five pit stops in a dismal race that saw him twice passed by team-mate and race winner Max Verstappen, who now leads the championship by 39 points.

Although it marked Perez’s first game of the season without scoring, the Mexican said his error was “costly” and “unacceptable”.

He said: “We paid for my mistake and it was very costly. I just have to apologize to my whole team because it was unacceptable for this kind of mistake to be made.

“I have to move on and learn from it, I can’t afford another zero in the tournament.”

Despite the poor finish, Perez had a “very good” start to the race, finishing 15th on lap 30, but dropped back into the standings after a couple of incidents and a period of rain.

He also collided with Haas driver Kevin Magnussen in the corner on lap 34, breaking his front wing.

Perez said he “didn’t know what happened” but was “considerably hurt” by the incident.

He added: “It went well. Unfortunately I hit traffic early on and that put us back where we were. Then it rained and we were one of the last to pit.

Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB19, Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo C43

Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB19, Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo C43

Photography: Simon Galloway/ motorsport pictures

“Then I cut the wall and it all became a mess. Me and Magnussen broke my front wing and he just came out of the chicane (deeply) and it went bad.

“When you’re in those positions, you’re always taking a lot of risks.”

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Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said it had been a “bad weekend” for Perez, blaming the poor result on a crash in qualifying that “put you at a disadvantage”.

He also said Perez was inside Ocon’s maintenance window before getting stuck behind slow-moving traffic.

Horner said: “We took a very aggressive strategy. Stopped on the first lap and you could see how fast he was in the free space and how much the others were saving.

“He actually came back inside the pit window on Esteban Ocon, and then (Logan) Sargeant and the slow car started to struggle and, of course, you couldn’t overtake.

“Then he got involved in a melee with (George) Russell and damaged the front wing. It was just one of those weekends where he got nothing done.

“He saved a lot of money in the pool, so he might need a new pair of underwear after that.

“For him, it’s just one of those weekends where[he should]turn the page and I think for him, the sooner he gets to Barcelona the better.”

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