The Red Bull RB19 will become an iconic single-seater. A car whose exploits will be recounted in the years to come, a single-seater that has already rewritten some records and, in the remaining ten races of a world championship that is an ode to monotony, could set further ones. Adrian Newey’s creation is a perfect mechanism. The list of things that work so well is imprressive and competitors have virtually no hope, under normal conditions, of competing for victory and must settle for the crumbs left behind by Max Verstappen.
If there is one element that works better than the rest, it’s the DRS. With the wing wide open, the RB19 starts to perform magical feats. When the system is activated, the already efficient car’s low resistance to advancement decreases further. We had clear proof of this at Spa Francorchamps, if any were still needed. While the virtues of the open-winged car didn’t fully emerge at the Hungaroring due to its twisty layout, in the Ardennes forest, the full potential could be unleashed.
Red Bull: Spa Francorchamps Declares RB19’s Overwhelming Superiority
Down the Kemmel straight, during Friday’s qualifying and the race, Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez literally left their competition in the dust on that section of the track. Despite low-downforce aerodynamic configurations, the Red Bull opened a gap over rival cars.
The fact that the Anglo-Austrian car is superior to each of its nine competitors is now well-established, but in Belgium, as happened last year with the RB18, its virtues emerged in an evident and overwhelming manner. The main rivals, Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren, and Aston Martin, manage to hold their ground, albeit very partially, only on single hot laps. The extra grip of new tires, especially with the softer compounds in the Pirelli range, covers the weak points of individual cars. It’s during the race that things get tough for the others, especially when the RB19 can deploy the Drag Reduction System.
In the last Grand Prix, Max only had to await the approval to use the DRS to initiate a series of highway-like overtakes that materialize around 2/3 of the Kemmel straight, with rivals unable to even attempt a defense.
Let’s look at some numbers to get an idea. On the historic Belgian track, Lewis Hamilton was the fastest at Eau Rouge: 313.4 km/h for the Briton. The Red Bulls? They were trailing somewhat, with Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen passing at 307.9 and 307.2 km/h, respectively. This is due to the significant downforce that the charging bull’s car is capable of generating.
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Things are completely reversed at the point of measurement before Les Combes braking zone. At that point, Lewis “turns” at 333 km/h, while Sergio and Max reach 340.8 and 338.8 km/h. A difference of over 20 km/h. While Hamilton gains just over 13 km/h. The comparison is quite compelling, as Red Bull, Ferrari, and Hamilton’s Mercedes had chosen rear wings with minimal aerodynamic load.
George Russell had opted for a more downforce-heavy configuration, which cost him over two tenths compared to his teammate between La Source and the end of Kemmel. McLaren didn’t have low-downforce wings either and, like W14 no. 63, didn’t provide valid indicative elements. Due to the higher incidence, it’s normal that they gained more with the DRS open.
Ferrari, despite achieving interesting improvements (+19 km/h), couldn’t reach the top speeds reached by the RB19 before Les Combes. The data emerging from observations of the blue car impressed their rivals. Mike Elliott, in the customary Mercedes debrief, expressed amazement at the lap time gains the RB19 manages to achieve once the rear wing is open. It’s evident that in the race, thanks to other virtues possessed by the Milton Keynes jewel, competing on equal terms would be impossible.
F1: Someone Wants to “Cripple” the Red Bull RB19
But the difference is also noticeable in qualifying, despite other cars disguising deficiencies with the extra grip of new tires. For these reasons, some are beginning to discuss a kind of targeted balance of performance that would penalize Adrian Newey’s designed single-seater.
F1 is reportedly considering allowing DRS to be used only during the race. A regulatory scenario that would negatively affect primarily the RB19. This move would contradict statements by F1 officials speaking about safeguarding meritocracy. Introducing this kind of regulatory BoP would yield one seemingly positive outcome and two negative ones resulting from it.
The “good” outcome would be less predictable and more varied qualifying sessions. In short, a bit of cost-effective spectacle to artificially engage fans with the screens. However, the downsides would emerge swiftly: such a balance of performance would be an unjustified artifice.
The second collateral effect would stem from the intrinsic characteristics of the RB19, a car so performance-oriented that in the race, it could rapidly recover any positions lost in qualifying. As Max Verstappen demonstrated he could do in Belgium. This would have the effect of mockery towards those advocating for such rules.
Formula 1 doesn’t need such simplistic remedies. What’s needed are rules that are less restrictive, allowing struggling teams to invest and close the gap. The regulatory freeze, budget cap, and token system are effectively keeping the gap open. The premier motorsport series should address this instead of considering stopgap solutions that would be ineffective in curbing the dominance of Red Bull.
Source: Diego Catalano for FUnoanalisitecnica
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