If seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton says his Mercedes rivals, Red Bull cars, are the fastest cars he’s ever seen, then what’s been heard all along is probably no exaggeration… Red Bull won 12 of the last 13 Grands Prix and all indications are that their gap with other F1 cars continues to widen. But what makes them so invincible lately?

With only the third round of the World Championship taking place in Melbourne today, some of the organizers are already worried that this year’s championship will become irrelevant too soon due to the distance that Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez are building up from their rivals.

And if in a match … the Red Bulls stumble somewhere, even the head of Mercedes, Toto Wolff, admits that his team this year does not have the opportunity to “catch up” with the champion team. That would be true, he said, even if the 2023 redesign of the car, which is underway, is deemed a success.

The key(s) to the dominance of the Red Bulls this year, in addition to the Honda engine, is the design of the car, which makes it inviolable not only on straight lines with DRS, but also on corners with rare stability. vehicle, which gives pilots an advantage even on the most difficult (“closed”) tracks. On average, the Red Bulls are one second per lap faster than their direct competitors.

Leading automotive designer Adrian Newey is said to have built an unrivaled car, the RB19, which is an evolution of the model that won the Constructors’ Championship in 2022 by 205 points.

Unlike past empires in the sport that were built on faster and more reliable engines, this year’s Red Bull excels primarily in the aerodynamic sector. Although this year the Austrian team has less time for aerodynamic tests than its rivals, the Austrian team has the opportunity with the new regulations to make the most of the downforce that gives it … wings on the track.

Red Bull’s design increases downforce, which contributes to the car’s perfect grip on the asphalt and minimizing its height above the ground. The front axle is lower than the rear, forming an acute angle with the ground, opening up the rear of the car. Red Bull’s persistence in this design is paying off handsomely.

By design, a relatively wide body with impressive side pods (sidepods) increases the massive air flow, which, going down the sides of the body to the gap between the rear wheels, pulls the diffusers and makes the bottom work harder. essential for the optimal use of the aerodynamic advantage. As speed increases, so does the angle to the ground.

Their main advantage is that they enter corners faster than others – what “ties” them to the asphalt?

More downforce gives the driver the key advantage that their car is more attached to the road when cornering, which not only allows them to maintain relatively high speeds, but also reduces tire wear without the need for hard braking. The porpoise phenomenon, which was in the spotlight last year mainly due to the related problems presented by Mercedes, is thus kept to a minimum.

At the same time, the Red Bull brakes better in a straight line thanks to increased aerodynamic resistance, which also contributes to tire durability.

If you add to this a seemingly lighter body, it is easy to understand the fundamental superiority of Red Bull in design, which is expressed in dominance on the tracks. It’s not that he’s lagging behind in terms of engine or organization.

Of course, the Red Bull car is not perfect in terms of reliability, it has a lot of room for improvement in this area, which is also … the last hope of rivals, who, however, have their own problems.

And if the Aston Martin with Fernando Alonso at the wheel is also impressive, even with former Red Bull designer Dan Fallows on the team, then Ferrari and Mercedes disappointed at the beginning of the championship.

It’s no secret that Mercedes is far behind in development compared to Red Bull. But being left behind by an Aston Martin that runs – ironically – with Mercedes engines? Where are the rumors that with the expiration of his contract with Red Bull, Newey will acquire as much as Mercedes …

However, Hamilton appears to have his own problems inside Mercedes. Former champion and British driver teammate Nico Rosberg recently suggested that Hamilton has a psychological problem when he sees another driver on his team being competitive, as was the case with compatriot George Russell who finished fourth in Jeddah while Hamilton finished fifth. What is certain is that Hamilton was not satisfied with the lack of a command directive to Russell to retreat in his favor.

At Ferrari, instead of improving the reliability of their car, its speed has decreased even more, at least in the first two races, and the change in team management has not yet brought the desired results. There are also strong rumors that Charles Leclerc, Scuderia’s number 1 driver, is unhappy and wants to leave, which has been officially denied.

The Ferrari is no longer visible even in the mirrors of Red Bull, and the Italian team’s technicians are looking for and cannot find where their car is lagging behind. As navigator Carlos Sainz said on Thursday, “there are no fundamental problems with the car,” at least according to the rigorous testing that this year’s SF-23 has passed. But he acknowledged that it is “a very unpredictable car” – much more unpredictable than this year’s championship.

“Impeccable aerodynamic performance hides flaws”

Red Bull entered the season with… gained momentum. But how did the Austrian team manage to stay on the development train despite a demanding last season? Giannis-Marios Papadopoulos, editor-in-chief of Cosmote TV, tells K:

“The most important thing about the RB19 is its impeccable aerodynamic performance, which perfectly covers any other shortcomings it may have. First of all, the key features of last year’s successful RB18 have been retained, namely the large curvature of the central floor tunnel and the extreme geometry of the front suspension. On the floor, the RB19 retained the extreme front suspension angle. To counteract the car’s natural tendency to skid under braking, the front of the upper wishbone is slightly higher than the rear. The design of the rear suspension is similar. In order not to “sag” the rear of the car during acceleration, the designer of the rear suspension placed the rear upper wishbone arm higher than the corresponding front one.

As for the floor tunnel, Adrian Newey insisted on solving the greater curvature of its roof. The reason is simple. Especially in cars of the last two years with increased downforce during braking, the car tends to “push” the front fender towards the road. This causes the center of aerodynamic pressure to move forward. When braking, the car levels off with the road surface, and during acceleration, the front of the car rises, and at the same time, the center of pressure begins to move towards the rear axle. Red Bull also finds benefits in reducing downforce when using a retractable rear spoiler (DRS). And this is the result of the aerodynamic design of the rear wing, which allows Red Bull to go faster and take full advantage of the DRS.”

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