F1 | Can teams copy Red Bull RB19? Why replicating floor alone is not enough. Replicating floor alone is not enough.

The magic that makes Red Bull RB19 the perfect car in terms of speed lies in the floor. However, replicating such geometry will not be easy.

With seven wins in seven races so far in the 2023 Formula 1 championship, the RB19 has proven to be an unbeatable car. The Spanish Grand Prix was easy for Max Verstappen, who won with a lead of over 24 seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes.

Much of Red Bull’s advantage comes from the floor and the underside of the car. A glimpse of this was revealed when Sergio Pérez’s car was lifted off the ground after his accident in the Monaco qualifying session a few weeks ago on the streets of Monte Carlo.

This incident has bothered Red Bull, but the team is confident because rival teams have only seen the bottom of the car, and it doesn’t mean they will be able to replicate it instantly.

“It’s not nice. We don’t lift the car [off the ground in that way], but it happened, and we’ll move on,” said Chief Engineer Paul Monaghan to the media, including the Dutch website RacingNews365. “Even if they replicate it, it will still happen later. The result could be an ignorant copy that won’t necessarily go faster. It’s not just about a bit of floor geometry. However, it is certainly a sensitive element in these cars,” he explained.

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Paul Monaghan is not worried that other teams will try to copy Red Bull’s trick because he has confidence in their developments. He continued by saying that the team has a “reasonably well-structured development path in terms of timing. We want to try to implement things that will make us faster.”

So, do rival teams have no chance of replicating the Red Bull floor? The Chief Engineer predicts that this could happen by the Japanese Grand Prix weekend. Only at that time will the men from the Austrian team see where their rivals stand.

For now, he added, Red Bull is focusing on their own upgrade path. “We will continue to work in our own way and try to be the fastest.” – he concluded.