Just_a_fan wrote: ↑29 Oct 2021, 14:22
godlameroso wrote: ↑29 Oct 2021, 13:49
FW17 wrote: ↑28 Oct 2021, 15:47
If they really feel the Merc setup to squat to gain top speed, does Red Bull work late into the season to bring a upgrade to Saudi?
They sure discovered the advantage at Turkey, so 7 weeks to address it mechanical or areodynamicaly, sufficient?
The two cars work very differently. The RB is setup so that it always has nicely defined flow structures over as wide a speed window as possible. Using Mercedes approach would require all new bodywork suspension and new brake ducts. Mercedes relies more on the brake ducts for their diffuser performance than RBR.
https://files.catbox.moe/zfwk1i.jpg
Here you can see a side by side amateur cfd study of the 2019 cars. RBR on the left, Merc on the right. Not totally accurate but I'd say enough to get the gist of the two different aero philosophies.
But that misses the changes to the rear floor and brake ducts - the key performance differentiator this season - so it's not even slightly accurate. Red Bull's high rake approach means they still get the benefit of the rear brake duct appendages where Mercedes don't. That's why Mercedes appear to have been trying to run the rear higher as the season has progressed as it's the only way to get the performance back.
Interesting point. I was actually thinking about this. In Baku, Mercedes made a step forward over the weekend when they managed to run the nose closer to the ground. The low speed rake may be an attempt to get the front wing working at a lower speed range.(possibly where the regulation changes have affected them the most)
The advantage Mercedes seems to have is on mid speed corner exit, while the RBR is better on entry and carrying speed through slow mid speed corners.
Portimao was the first hit of this because almost every corner is rear traction limited on exit, and Hamilton breezed past Verstappen because the Merc had better pull out of the final corner.
Barcelona was the next confirmation as Mercedes better exit traction helped them preserve their rear tires better than RB.
In Hungary Hamilton was untouchable in the final 2 corners because of his exit speed.
Turkey was more of the same, Bottas was just faster on the traction zones and this manifested itself as better tire wear.
COTA having more Bahrain like corners was always going to suit RBR. Considering Verstappen had a .4 advantage there, and the gap at COTA was .2 Mercedes has indeed halfed the gap to RBR.
Looking at the characteristics of the remaining tracks, it can really go either way.