Low [v]carb diet: The updates Racing Bulls have introduced to undercut their rivals
Racing Bulls have made a few changes to the VCARB02 at Imola, as they look to close the gap to their rivals ahead of them.
This includes revisions to the floor and sidepods, whilst they’ve also added the ‘Cobra-style’ winglet beside the cockpit that we’ve seen many of their rivals use already.
Low-carb diet
The biggest visual change in the announced update package comes in the form of new sidepod bodywork, as the team have revised the rear portion, altering the g-line and increasing the size of the undercut quite dramatically.
As noted in the comparison between the specification seen in Miami (top) and the new bodywork presented at Imola (bottom), with the green line depicting the surface geometry, it’s clear how much of a change this represents.
This will clearly have a sizable effect on performance, as it alters the airflow’s behaviour and the various pressure gradients on those surfaces, whilst also having an impact on the surrounding flow structures being generated by the floor and rear wheel assembly.
The alterations made to the floor are largely out of sight, with the team announcing that ‘the volume within the underfloor channels has been modified’ in the car presentation document, whilst the camber of the forward floor fences and the position of the edge wing have also been adjusted.
Racing Bulls have also added a solution we first saw introduced by Ferrari at Imola last season and has since been copied by other teams along the way.
The ‘Cobra-style’ winglet (circled), given its name owing to its appearance, differs in its geometry for each of the teams given the effect that the designers are looking to impart but, the general appearance remains.
The winglet helps to adjust the flow structures created by the fairing attached to the safety structure, in order to better manage flow downstream.
Read next: Uncovered: What the data reveals about Ferrari’s SF-25 upgrades in Imola