Although it was Ferrari that led the first third of the 2022 F1 World Championship, Red Bull has always had a very fast car from the Bahrain Grand Prix. Reliability was the only thing that took second place from Max Verstappen at the opening race and a month later at Melbourne. The two DNFs were separated by a thrilling victory over Charles Leclerc in Saudi Arabia after an exciting battle. What Red Bull initially lacked in his RB18 was a strong front end to suit Max Verstappen’s very specific style. While there was too much understeer for Verstappen’s liking, the chassis characteristics suited Sergio Perez’s style of driving so remarkably close to Verstappen’s pace.
Like Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen, Max Verstappen turns the front end exactly as he steers into the front end of his car, with incredible grip with minimal to no understeer want to have Of course, it makes the rear end of the car very nervous, but these three champions, for good reason, thought they could handle it with plenty of steering and throttle input. For them, young Max, it was a faster set-up.
By the French Grand Prix, Red Bull had addressed this issue, making an important change to the front of the RB18 to make it ‘pointier’. It wasn’t until Paul Ricard that Verstappen essentially controlled the means.
Unsurprisingly, Sergio Perez’s season was a struggle. Unable to cope with the new characteristics of the car and trying to drive against his instincts, he began to suffer from significant deterioration of the front tire, and the man known as the “Tire Whisperer” for his excellent tire management was much better than Verstappen. began to run out of rubber early. Little by little you’re getting late…
Of course, it is important to grasp the initial concept of the car in line with the brand new technical regulations for 2020. Three different concepts were clearly shown and were the subject of great debate from the beginning of the year, but Red Bull pulled away from its rivals. It was more than just the shape of the sidepods. The key to generating maximum downforce from the diffuser was to make the rear of the car much higher than the front.
The concept came from none other than Adrian Newey, who, in addition to fulfilling his role as Chief Technology Officer, designed the gearbox casing and determined the pickup points for the RB18’s rear suspension.
Of course, they are positioned higher than any other 2022 car and, being that concept, the team cannot easily redesign it this year. This is because the production time is too long. This is a feature that no one can imitate in 2022 and has given Red Bull a decisive advantage over its rivals.
After dominating the last few years, Mercedes, despite a pole position in Hungary and a 1-2 finish in Brazil, it was clear that the W13 did not live up to the team’s expectations.
Mike Elliott and his group tried and failed to find a way forward, and before the summer break they came to the conclusion that the problem was not the aerodynamic concept, but the structural stiffness of the car floor.
By adopting the ‘zero pod’ concept, Mercedes wanted to explore open areas on the sides of the car to redirect airflow to the top of the diffuser for maximum downforce. However, it backfired that only one stay was allowed to keep such a large carbon fiber stable. As speed increased, the floor edge inevitably began to bend, causing the dreaded porpoise phenomenon. On the other hand, it also changed the aerodynamics of the car, creating an uncorrectable lose/lose situation both below the floor (less power sent to the diffuser) and above.
The 2023 W14 will have bigger sidepods. This is due to the need for a stronger structure to keep the floor edge from bending as much, but the mechanical and cooling parts have been moved to make the most of the larger available space and the top surface In addition to changing the aerodynamics of the , the weight distribution and center of gravity are changed.
Category: F1 / F1 machine