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Racing Bulls arrived at the Australian Grand Prix with a suite of new components as they continue to optimise their package, having already seemingly made strides with this year’s car when compared with last year’s challenger.
A new deflector array, updated keel, floor leading edge detail and rear floor, along with a new engine cover were all served up for their drivers to trial in Melbourne.
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In terms of the front section of the floor there’s quite a lot been changed, as not only has the shape of the keel section under the chassis been altered, there’s a spine-style baffle employed now that also hides the bib stay (top left).
Previously these two sections were independent, with a separate fairing employed around the stay (pre-season testing specification, lower image).
You can also see in the comparison how the floor fences have been altered, now appearing to be taller and less tilted (upper right).
The deflector array and floor foot have also been extensively overhauled, albeit following the same general design philosophy.
The new arrangement, right, has two smaller baffle flaps extending out from the lower half of the secondary skyscraper element, which not only extends down to the floor foot now, it also results in a revised bracket system to be employed too.
Meanwhile, the ratio of the slat elements in the rear section has also been altered, whilst the trailing edge shape of the edge element also appears to have been altered slightly too.
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The team had also prepared a new engine cover, cooling louvre and rear cooling arrangement for the Australian Grand Prix too (top), with a more linear shape to the top deck employed, rather than the flared nostril approach taken for the Bahrain pre-season test solution.
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