Red Bull RB18 Speculation Thread

[OO7]

Downvoted for speculating in a speculation thread, that's rich.

LMP1 cars back in 2016 had a weight of 875kg, dripping wet that was around 950kg. These new F1 cars dripping wet, are 885kg. These cars are so heavy that they drive more like LMP or GT cars than F1 cars, just from the sheer mass. When Vettel won his first championship the cars were 770kg with 150kg of fuel onboard. These new cars weigh more than that with no fuel in the car.

Then there's the tires, likely derived from the tires Pirelli provides for GT3 cars.

Note, that 875kg figure for the LMP1 car doesn't include driver weight, unlike F1 cars, so the true figure (driver + fuel) is around 1020kg.

[OO7]

The new cars were designed with the intention of reducing benefit of rake,

Were they or was this just a by-product of regs aimed to allow closer racing between cars?

[DarkAlman]

Rumors abound that the RB18 doesn't have a launch date yet because it failed the FIA crash test

https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/103666/r ... -test.html

Sounds like they are pushing the limits, curious to see what they come up with!

[Ryar]

Rumors abound that the RB18 doesn't have a launch date yet because it failed the FIA crash test

https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/103666/r ... -test.html

Sounds like they are pushing the limits, curious to see what they come up with!

The Italian branch of Motorsport.com reports that the new Red Bull car didn't survive the frontal crash test. This would have delayed the Austrian racing team's plans, but Adrian Newey and his engineers are reportedly not worried.

Wow. The rumor in that report says, RB18 is faster than RB16B, atleast in Sim!

Recently there have been reports that the RB18 is already faster than the RB16B, at least in the simulator.

[Marty_Y]

https://www.planetf1.com/news/red-bull- ... rash-test/

Red Bull reportedly unfazed after failing frontal crash test
Michelle Foster

[adrianjordan]

I'm sure they have a more conservative option if their preferred one can't be made to pass the test.

[godlameroso]

Downvoted for speculating in a speculation thread, that's rich.

LMP1 cars back in 2016 had a weight of 875kg, dripping wet that was around 950kg. These new F1 cars dripping wet, are 885kg. These cars are so heavy that they drive more like LMP or GT cars than F1 cars, just from the sheer mass. When Vettel won his first championship the cars were 770kg with 150kg of fuel onboard. These new cars weigh more than that with no fuel in the car.

Then there's the tires, likely derived from the tires Pirelli provides for GT3 cars.

Note, that 875kg figure for the LMP1 car doesn't include driver weight, unlike F1 cars, so the true figure (driver + fuel) is around 1020kg.

LMP1 cars of that era had small fuel tanks, they could only carry ~70l of fuel per stint, that's about half of what F1 cars carry onboard nowadays. ~53kg 875 + 55 = 930kg. The only way they could get to 1020kg is if they had a girthy boi driving. I just don't see the "Gyspy King" gracefully jumping into an LMP any time soon.

[Mitch2.0]

Does anyone else feel that it’s no coincidence Merc and RBR failed the initial tests, as they seem more likely to push the chassis to the absolute limit with regards to ultimate weight savings and performance.

You’d almost imagine Haas and Williams for example can’t risk making another lay up and would go conservative to make sure they passed first time.

[BlueCheetah66]

Does anyone else feel that it’s no coincidence Merc and RBR failed the initial tests, as they seem more likely to push the chassis to the absolute limit with regards to ultimate weight savings and performance.

You’d almost imagine Haas and Williams for example can’t risk making another lay up and would go conservative to make sure they passed first time.

Both reports about them failing tests were proven to be wrong

[adrianjordan]

Does anyone else feel that it’s no coincidence Merc and RBR failed the initial tests, as they seem more likely to push the chassis to the absolute limit with regards to ultimate weight savings and performance.

You’d almost imagine Haas and Williams for example can’t risk making another lay up and would go conservative to make sure they passed first time.

Both reports about them failing tests were proven to be wrong

I wouldn't rule either or both of them from having submitted 2 designs for testing. 1 within the test limits and another that they knew was on the limit.

I can't remember which channel it was, but someone on YouTube was talking about how they'll likely have an inner crash structure that they'll get as slim as they can, and then VF aero fairing over that which would allow them to develop the nose through the year.

[DarkAlman]

Red Bull announced this morning that they are planning an upgrade package for the first race, which mirrors Mclarens announcement from earlier in the week.

Translation: we have some bits for the car we don't want to reveal to our rivals until the first race.

[DChemTech]

Red Bull announced this morning that they are planning an upgrade package for the first race, which mirrors Mclarens announcement from earlier in the week.

Translation: we have some bits for the car we don't want to reveal to our rivals until the first race.

Not really surprising though; didn't they do so last year(s), too?
I guess all teams want a good sense of performance of their base package pre-season, and having some sense of what works and what doesn't, immediately move to refine or correct.

[Just_a_fan]

Red Bull announced this morning that they are planning an upgrade package for the first race, which mirrors Mclarens announcement from earlier in the week.

Translation: we have some bits for the car we don't want to reveal to our rivals until the first race.

Not really surprising though; didn't they do so last year(s), too?
I guess all teams want a good sense of performance of their base package pre-season, and having some sense of what works and what doesn't, immediately move to refine or correct.

Agreed. Expect most/all teams to turn up to the first race with something different on the car with some teams having much more than others.

We've seen it before so it's not unusual.

[godlameroso]

Red Bull announced this morning that they are planning an upgrade package for the first race, which mirrors Mclarens announcement from earlier in the week.

Translation: we have some bits for the car we don't want to reveal to our rivals until the first race.

I'd read it more like, we learned some stuff while developing the car, and went back to development, to exploit what we learned.

[wogx]