Uncovered: The subtle changes introduced by Red Bull to combat the RB21’s wayward traits
Red Bull arrived in Miami with a new floor for the RB21 as they continue to search for a more balanced level of performance from their car, which in-turn should make it more comfortable to drive.
It appears that the parts that have arrived were originally scheduled to be part of a larger suite of components for Imola but have been fast-tracked for Miami, in order to help take the fight to their closest rivals.
Small but meaningful
It must also be noted that only Max Verstappen had the parts at his disposal, such were the constraints in meeting the production deadline in order that they arrive one race earlier than originally scheduled.
And, whilst you might have expected them to make wholesale changes, given their relative struggles so far this season, the changes were actually very nuanced, all floor associated, albeit listed by the team in the car presentation document as performance orientated.
In that list they talk about repositioning the floor fences to increase load for the same flow stability, whilst altering the camber of the edge wing to induce more local load.
So, it’s clear that the team don’t think they’re far off, it’s more just a case of finding the sweet spot, which seems to be a theme for everyone this year.
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Also, given this was arriving at a venue hosting a Sprint race weekend, it couldn’t be a solution that was going to completely throw the team for a loop, as they just wouldn’t have the time to reframe the cars setup window to account for that, a sentiment which was echoed by Paul Monaghan ahead of the weekend’s track action
“The flow stability is unchanged, so we’re not fearing it to be aerodynamically unstable or anything of that nature. It can go on and it will give us a few, few kilos of load”.
How different are these new parts then? Well, you know that well known meme from the US office where Pam asks Creed “Corporate needs you to find the difference between this picture and this picture”, I think if we put the images of the two designs side-by-side it might very well be difficult to tell them apart, albeit there are actually some subtle differences, unlike the images selected by Pam.
In terms of the changes, it appears that the shape of the innermost fence on the leading edge of the floor has been altered, with a less curved upper edge noticeable from certain angles, along with how it mates to the underside of the floor’s leading edge.
This subtlety aside, it’s unclear how much the other fences have been adjusted either longitudinally or spanwise. Furthermore, whilst we’re able to see the forwardmost portion of the fences, they continue to reach back under the floor before arching around to meet the side of the forward floor section, where further optimisation may have taken place, even if that is out of view.
The edge wing, meanwhile, appears relatively unaltered, with the swept section at the front of the assembly the most prime candidate to any camber alterations, with the associated strakes also needing to be adjusted as a consequence.
The team also made sure to check flow conditions into the sidepod inlet hadn’t been altered dramatically by these alterations, with flo-viz applied to the area on Verstappen’s car during Free Practice.
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