While Red Bull can’t get ideas from its team’s driver car, their experts have warned that rivals won’t go far with the ‘exposed’ floorboard anytime soon. “Ignorant imitators” and especially …
When the FIA published the list of teams’ developments for the Friday weekend of the Spanish Grand Prix, an interesting note emerged in Red Bull’s caption. On the small tweak to the top of the car’s diffuser, they write that the curved profile improvement was “competitor-inspired.”
Given that Red Bull is the dominant force in 2023, it might be surprising that they take ideas from others, but their comment got even more interesting when their chief engineer, Paul Monaghan, revealed on Sunday morning that the modification in question had been tapped out of none other than a Williams driving. the team!
Former head of aerodynamics Dan Fallows, who has since bolstered Aston Martin, has stated that what he respects most about Adrian Newey is that he is not characterized by “technical arrogance”. According to the signs, the same applies to the whole team, because despite the victories in a row, it seems that they are not only looking at the cars of their rivals fighting at the end of the field, but also taking things from them.
“You can’t assume your solution is the best solution in every area” Monaghan explained. “Our currency is lap time, and that part of the floorboard broke off at the start of 2022. I remember it was very early at Williams, and at others.”
“It didn’t necessarily work for us. We’ve looked at it a few times and it brings a little edge. It seems like a bit more of a change than we actually imagined.” – explained the specialist, adding that they had been working on this solution for some time.
It will not be known until October what they have done with their floorboards
However, the case shows not only that even at the top it is possible to learn from smaller competitors, but also that copying one team does not necessarily lead to the same outcome for another.
This may also be true of the floorplate that Red Bull unveiled to the world in Monaco. While competitors are already profusely studying the complex and sophisticated RB19 panel workings, Monaghan thinks they won’t get away with just copying it. In addition, he noted that even if useful lessons are learned from it, its impact will be felt in the fall at the earliest due to the long time it takes to design and produce.
“It’s not cool. We don’t jack our cars up like that. But since that happened, we’ve really moved on.” Monaghan said of revealing their floorboards to the public.
“But there is a phase shift between people seeing it, putting it on their car and actually making it go faster. A clueless version doesn’t necessarily make you faster. That has to be built in, and it’s not just a small part of the floorboard.”
To be noticed.
According to Monaghan, it may take until October before competitors can use the design they just saw. “Our development plan is time specific. Changing anything in your development plan can increase the time interval before it gets to the car. So it will become clear in the Japan region who is going where with this” He thought.
“We have to keep our development schedule in order. We can only change our own car, we can’t influence what other people do. So we go our own way, we try to be the fastest.” He said.
Finally, he said, there is nothing surprising in the fact that the cars started to resemble more and more to each other (mostly to his car) in the second year of the rules.
“If we go back to 2009, 2010, 2011 or even 2014, we win races with a package similar to Mercedes. Other people will look at our car and if they feel it can make it faster, they will get ideas from it. That’s good.”
“Just ask McLaren about 2011 and what their car was like back then, it wasn’t fast! Then all of a sudden everyone came out with exhausts like ours and they got really fast. It’s been the same for many years, and it continues now. That’s the process of parity in the sport. After all, There are no royalties here, right?” Monaghan concluded.
