Why upgraded F1 rivals aren't catching Red Bull

you're watching F1 2023 technical analysis brought to you by aramco Red Bull has dominated formula one since the new ground effect regulations were introduced at the start of last year but the chasing pack is showing no signs of catching up the combination of Max verstappen and the Red Bull rb19 looks Unstoppable and has been in a league of its own throughout the season while its qualifying Advantage has fluctuated based on circumstances and track characteristics the rb19 has generally been the fastest over a lap in race conditions it has usually had a bigger Advantage when the winning margin is small it's usually because of circumstances for example thanks to the involvement of the safety car in Australia and Britain and verstappen's late pit stop in Austria so he could set the fastest lap what's more even when the gaps are big verstappen is able to be more conservative given there's no point in taking risks and stressing the car in power unit more than necessary that means we have not necessarily seen the full potential of the rb19 exploited over a full race distance and there isn't even a consistent Challenger to Red Bull with Mercedes Aston Martin Ferrari and McLaren all having moments when they have been best to their so at a time when the rest of the field is unpredictable and tightly packed why is Red Bull still Head and Shoulders Above the Rest and in a position where it could yet pull off the almost impossible feat of winning every race this season the answer to that question is a complicated one so we've broken it down into 10 reasons that explain its Supremacy Red Bull's limited wind tunnel and cfd items thanks to f1's aerodynamic testing regulations and the additional reduction as a punishment for exceeding the cost Gap in 2021 have limited development to the rb19 but not by enough as Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has pointed out the rb19 is not that different to how it started the season he says that's because the team doesn't want to compromise its 2024 performance nonetheless Red Bull has brought at least some updates to every race since the start of the Season except Miami the most significant changes were a new front Wing in Australia side pod and floor tweaks in Azerbaijan more floor and diffuser changes in Spain and revised rear suspension fairings in Australia but having a consistent package has also allowed Red Bull to build up a formidable understanding of how to get the best out of it in particular that means making the most of the tires which are key to Performance F1 teams move incredibly quickly but it takes time to identify a problem design a solution and then produce a part that means the time between starting that process and bolting something onto a race car can be months there was a great example earlier this year when Red Bull's very detailed underfloor was revealed when Sergio Perez's crash car was lifted by Crane in Monaco While others could learn from it Red Bull chief engineer Paul Monahan suggested it could take three or four months for rival teams to produce a floor influenced by what was learned and have it on the car he also suggested that Red Bull impacting Rivals development plans like that would increase what he called the phase lag in producing updates and While others are changing direction Red Bull can keep going on the development trajectoryators long since set out and add more performance to move the goal posts the Red Bull rb19 is a good all-rounder the fact that its nearest Challenger has variously been Aston Martin Ferrari Mercedes And even McLaren recently reflects the fact that all have cars that are strong in some areas but weaker in others the Aston Martin is particularly strong in slower corners but struggles more on the straight and in high speed especially when there's a need to tackle a track with a broad range of corner profiles the Ferrari is capable of being quick particularly over a qualifying lap but can be inconsistent and tricky to drive as well as using up the tires too quickly on certain tracks the Mercedes improved initially with its update introduced at Monaco but the team expected better high-speed performance as a result to offset its struggles in lower speed Corners which didn't prove to be the case in Austria and Silverstone McLaren went well on those tracks but is expected to find life harder at low-speed Hungarian but the Red Bull is strong globally and that's all down to the car Concept in particular the suspension design that allows good control of the mechanical platform and its detailed floor Concepts the Red Bull consistently derives more of its total downforce from the underfloor than Rivals helped by that combination of pension travel and high ceiling Venturi tunnels so many circuit with a big spread of cooler speeds will likely amplify the Red Bull's Advantage the static ride height can be set low for good slow caller performance without that making the ride height too low in fast Corners that's because the high tunnels ensure the roof is actually no closer to the ground than those with stiff suspensions but low tunnels because it's ever ly deriving more of its total downforce from the underbody which imposes far less drag than Wing derived downforce it's more aerodynamically efficient that also means the Red Bull can follow another car closely through corners in the dirty air Rivals for throwing upgrades at the car trying to tackle one weakness or other but only Red Bull has hit on the right concept to have such a strong all-rounder if Red Bull's car concept is so good why don't the rest simply copy it well many are but there are limitations to that while you can sweep the front suspension geometry relatively easily albeit not cheaply as Mercedes did with its Monaco upgrade that increased the level of anti-dive it's harder to change other fundamentals Big Ticket items like the Monaco can rear suspension are elements of the design that can only really be tackled with a new car that's why all of the chasing pack have conceptual limitations that can't be changed in season and of course when they bring out their new cars Red Bull has the chance to take another step forward with its design potentially that cycle can then Begin Again with problems locked in until 2025 even with architectural limitations historically well-funded teams could go to town with a major revamp by throwing money at the problem take Mercedes for example team principal Toto Wolff has said several times that it would have made a new monocot during the season but for the limitations of the cost cap that make it impossible given that might also involve moving the cockpit position Lewis Hamilton keeps complaining about this would be a big job and effectively make it a new car or at least a genuine b-spec machine to the chasing pack Mercedes and Ferrari have already made changes to their cars that have consumed resources in terms of time and budgets but not made much of a dent in Red Bull's lead Mercedes ditched its controversial narrow side pods with the upgrade introduced in Monaco that was the most visually obvious switch but there was also a significant shift in floor Concepts and improvements to the mechanical platform that produced an initial lift with Podium finishes in Spain and Canada but it hasn't been enough a new front Wing appeared at Silverstone but again that was only a small improvement with time and budget running out it has made its big push for the year Ferrari shifted Direction with its side pods with an upgrade in Spain the feeling in the team is that this is a new direction that will yield big long-term gains but it's not immediately fixed the car's voices similarly Mclaren has made major changes this year with its change of floor Concept in Baku then the big step across Austria and Britain but all three of those teams have already had a big swing this year and can't have another one until next year's car and while the chasing pack introduces upgrades that are all about solving problems and areas of weakness Red Bull keeps rolling on adding performance and understanding to a car that fundamentally works progress is a race that has no end after every Finish Line another challenge awaits how can a ramco continue to push innovation in a sport at the Forefront of Technology this is how discover how aramco and the Aston Martin Formula One team aim to meet formula one's sustainable fuel targets aramco powered by Howe there's a virtuous circle that sustains dominance in F1 if you have the right concept and you are well ahead you can manage your development easily you don't have to make sudden changes in Direction and troubleshoot and while Rivals flounder you just keep adding performance that's the position Red Bull is in this is particularly positive for Red Bull given its wind tunnel and cfd limitations if it was under pressure some tough decisions would have to be made focus on this year and ensure the titles are won at the expense of the 2024 car or he's up this year so the long term is looked after if one of Mercedes or Ferrari had delivered this year Red Bull would be in trouble and something would have to give instead it could roll serenely on winning every race without compromising the start of next season is a unique force in F1 car design and only Red Bull has him it's no coincidence that in a rule set in which the mechanical platform control is so important that when Red Bull produced last year's car which the 2023 machine evolved from newly focused on suspension design newey's great strength is to be able to evaluate a set of regulations and identify the key performance opportunities and balances he's also got a unique place in Red Bull structure whereby his creativity and ideas can be fed into what is a tremendously strong technical team no other team has Adrian UE or someone like him or indeed a setup that allows such a unique mind to operate free of the day-to-day grind of F1 technical leadership two of the teams that have been Red Bull's nearest Challenger at times in 2023 realistically aren't ready to beat them Aston Martin is growing rapidly but has only just moved into its new state-of-the-art Factory its wind tunnel isn't going to be up and running until next year and the whole organization is still building up so it realistically can't be expected to take on Red Bull even though the team itself is determined to continue to close the gap as for McLaren it was once an F1 Powerhouse but hasn't been for more than a decade but the Step it made over the Austrian Silverstone weekend shows it's a force for the future however it's still targeting 2025 as the point where it can be a regular race winner the two teams that have no excuse for not being up there fighting with Red Bull a Ferrari and Mercedes both have the resources and experience to do so but both simply got their car Concepts wrong at the start of this ground effect regulations era and are still busy trying to correct that both Mercedes and Ferrari hit porpoising and bouncing problems last year something Red Bull avoided and have been playing catch-up since that reflects weaknesses in the team technically and areas where their understanding of the underlying science has lagged behind and an F1 where it can take years to recover from such mistakes both Ferrari and Mercedes are now engaged in a long grueling battle to close the gap thanks for watching F1 2023 technical analysis brought to you by aramco foreign

Channel: THE RACE

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Keywords: f1, formula 1, formula one, F1 news, F1 latest, F1 updates, F1 explained, The Race, the-race.com, grand prix, f1 2023, Ferrari, Ferrari F1, Mercedes, Mercedes F1, Red Bull, Red Bull F1, Max Verstappen, McLaren, Aston Martin, Aston Martin F1

Id: gsDsC7ulEk4

Length: 10min 20sec (620 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 16 2023