Red Bull RB10 Renault

[turbof1]

Does the red bull have the tightest coke bottle area of the teams so far? Its hard to tell with images of each car from different angles.

I believe so in width. However, mercedes has a tight one too, but then in height.

[dren]

I haven't found a real good top down pic of the Merc yet to compare. The Red Bull is very nice and tightly flowing at the rear.

[beelsebob]

I haven't found a real good top down pic of the Merc yet to compare. The Red Bull is very nice and tightly flowing at the rear.

My gut says the Merc is slightly tighter, but as you say, the lack of a top down pic limits our ability to tell.

[H2H]

From the usually wellinformed AMuS

Red Bull benötigt einen Tag zum Federwechsel

Eine falsch eingebaute Feder der Hinterachse hatte die Red Bull-Mechaniker zuvor den ganzen Tag beschäftigt. "Alles da hinten drin ist furchtbar kompliziert", stöhnte Technikchef Adrian Newey. "Jeder Handgriff dauert drei bis vier Mal länger als bisher. Auch, weil wegen der größeren Batterien und der höheren Spannung schärfere Sicherheitsbestimmungen galten." Zur Information: Red Bull verwendete 2013 freiwillig ein KERS mit niedriger Spannung.

Bei Red Bull werden jetzt die Köpfe rauchen. Gut möglich, dass sich Vettel und sein neuer Teamkollege am Donnerstag einen Testtag teilen. "Ich würde schon mal gerne wissen, wie sich die neuen Autos anfühlen", grinste Vettel.

Interesting to hear that they now need 3-4x as much time as in 2013 to change that element of the rear suspension. 'In part' due to the higher voltage and bigger batteries, RBR chose to use a KERS with lower voltage in 2013. Didn't know about that RBR design choice for last year, interesting.

A couple of things come into my mind:

1) The packaging must have been very tight indeed, Newey pushing once again the limits. Aero still leads, mech follows.
2) While they will cut the time down it will take them considerably longer to do certain suspension changes at the back. This means that accidents and wrong setup paths will be costlier the last year.

[gandharva]

It's a completely new package. All teams will learn and massively improve in terms of repair time an setup changes.

[H2H]

It's a completely new package. All teams will learn and massively improve in terms of repair time an setup changes.

Yeah, but note the Neweys comments about the higher voltage and batteries. All indicates longer times for such changes & stuff.

BTW:

Beim Zusammenbau des Autos in der Nacht vor der Jungfernfahrt war eine Feder der Hinterradaufhängung falsch montiert worden. Die Komplexität der neuen Kraftübertragung bringt es mit sich, dass zuerst tausend andere Komponenten demontiert werden mussten, bevor man an das fragliche Teil herankam.

Diesem Teil der neuen Formel 1 kann Vettel sogar etwas Gutes abgewinnen: "Was sich da unter der Verkleidung abspielt ist der Hammer. Für Technikfreaks ein echtes Fest. Auch ich bin begeistert, wie das alles untergebracht wurde. Das ist eine Raketenwissenschaft. Aber leider wird das nie ein Zuschauer zu Gesicht bekommen."

Plus Seb is 'amazed how [all that tech] got packaged.It's rocket science.'

So I think there can hardly be any doubt that some changes will take (much) longer this year even if we factor the learning curve in.

[Sevach]

That's not a beam wing, it's an aero neutral drive shaft cover/suspension member.

Aero neutral. Of course!

The rules determine that the suspension arms (which is the how they manage to cover the driveshaft) have to be aero neutral, they don't produce any downforce.

As pointed out by Dren the advantage of this design is isolating the spinning driveshaft from the airflow.

[timbo]

As pointed out by Dren the advantage of this design is isolating the spinning driveshaft from the airflow.

Interesting that many teams used such setup last year, but this year abandoned it (at least for now). I wonder why.

[zoro_f1]

[f1rules]

to me it doesnt look like rb at all has the tightest package(for once), rear maybe but the sidepods are very bulky and high, to me it looks like the merc is a lot tighter, not saying better. but it is the first time in years that im not wauwed by the rb car

[Sevach]

As pointed out by Dren the advantage of this design is isolating the spinning driveshaft from the airflow.

Interesting that many teams used such setup last year, but this year abandoned it (at least for now). I wonder why.

I don't get it either...

So far only Red Bull and Mercedes right?

[beelsebob]

I expect it's a combination of two things:

1. The weight limit is much harder to reach, and even though that CF cover is not much, it does weigh something.
2. The beam wing is gone, which means that generating turbulent air in front of it is not as much of a handicap.

The implication of RBR and Merc still using one is that they have found a way to use the air coming off this area of the car effectively.

[RicerDude]

Sorry for asking i'm sure its been said before but why do they now have any louvres in their RW end plates?

[Pup]

I expect it's a combination of two things:

1. The weight limit is much harder to reach, and even though that CF cover is not much, it does weigh something.
2. The beam wing is gone, which means that generating turbulent air in front of it is not as much of a handicap.

I think this, plus the concern over rear tire wear this year means some teams are less willing to sacrifice suspension geometry for aero.

[Richard]

https://twitter.com/tgruener/status/428194053688020992
http://www.racecar-engineering.com/wp-c ... 10iiop.jpg
Via Racecar Engineering

Is there something on the front of the car that needs cooling?

The S duct takes air from the underneath to the top, they had one last year. It is said to relieve pressure under the nose and help the boundary layer above. http://scarbsf1.com/blog1/2013/02/17/re ... ose-slots/