Red Bull RB20

[AR3-GP]

My understanding based on what I'd read (somewhere... Can't find it now) is that RB19s top speed advantage was partially due to how the radiator spillage was directed over the sidepods. Basically it reduced DF but also drag at high speeds only.

Does anyone recall if this is true and/or specifics?

If it is the case, I wonder how they are planning to achieve the same thing with this new design, if the spillage is under the pods instead...

I agree with the idea especially as it was mainly visible with DRS open at high top speeds. The higher the top speeds at the circuit, the more powerful it seemed to be.

The other argument here could be that if they could sufficiently increase the floor downforce, then they could just run smaller front and rear wings to reduce their drag instead of relying on a pseudo fluidic switch. They can't get too comfortable with a party trick from 2 years ago.

[FNTC]

[Flanker27]

is this a letterbox air inlet?

So there are both vertical (2x) and horizontal air inlets?

[west52keep64]

My contact at MK has informed me that RB will indeed incorporate micro-sidepods, albeit not where you think.
First they replaced their twin air-to-air intercoolers with a water one, like most cars today, to empty up the sidepods. Therefore, the remaining sidepod cooling will be pushed into the monocoque recesses that were made for the intercoolers (as illustrated in my old drawing). Furthermore, they will continue to rely on a significant centerline cooling system. And to address the drag issue associated with the rear wheels, RB will put... delta-shaped & empty sidepods in front of them, as seen in the Brabham Bt55 or the Tyrrell 012 and other cars of that era.
https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-yzgoj/i ... 71.jpg?c=2

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GGb5EgTWAAA ... name=large

That's not possible under the current regulations, that bodywork would be outside the legality zones i.e. the orange box here:

[Stu]

My contact at MK has informed me that RB will indeed incorporate micro-sidepods, albeit not where you think.
First they replaced their twin air-to-air intercoolers with a water one, like most cars today, to empty up the sidepods. Therefore, the remaining sidepod cooling will be pushed into the monocoque recesses that were made for the intercoolers (as illustrated in my old drawing). Furthermore, they will continue to rely on a significant centerline cooling system. And to address the drag issue associated with the rear wheels, RB will put... delta-shaped & empty sidepods in front of them, as seen in the Brabham Bt55 or the Tyrrell 012 and other cars of that era.
https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-yzgoj/i ... 71.jpg?c=2

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GGb5EgTWAAA ... name=large

That would be great & really spice things up, when I suggested this…viewtopic.php?p=1186420#p1186420
…a couple of pages ago I had no idea that it would be what your contact is suggesting!

[BlueCheetah66]

My contact at MK has informed me that RB will indeed incorporate micro-sidepods, albeit not where you think.
First they replaced their twin air-to-air intercoolers with a water one, like most cars today, to empty up the sidepods. Therefore, the remaining sidepod cooling will be pushed into the monocoque recesses that were made for the intercoolers (as illustrated in my old drawing). Furthermore, they will continue to rely on a significant centerline cooling system. And to address the drag issue associated with the rear wheels, RB will put... delta-shaped & empty sidepods in front of them, as seen in the Brabham Bt55 or the Tyrrell 012 and other cars of that era.
https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-yzgoj/i ... 71.jpg?c=2

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GGb5EgTWAAA ... name=large

That's not possible under the current regulations, that bodywork would be outside the legality zones i.e. the orange box here:

https://f1tcdn.net/images/news/2019/int ... gs-iso.jpg

I'd assume it is pushed to the limit of the rulebox as much, and maybe even the 'delta shape is in the opposite way, fitting in to the rulebox. In my mind it could be shaped very similar to pre-2022 sidepods but heavily recessed.

[bagajohny]

My understanding based on what I'd read (somewhere... Can't find it now) is that RB19s top speed advantage was partially due to how the radiator spillage was directed over the sidepods. Basically it reduced DF but also drag at high speeds only.

Does anyone recall if this is true and/or specifics?

If it is the case, I wonder how they are planning to achieve the same thing with this new design, if the spillage is under the pods instead...

I would love to know more about how this works. If anyone can provide me with article or video links about how radiator spillage improved top speed then that will be helpful. Thanks!


Edit: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/gary ... m-pay-off/

Is this the article you were referring to?

[bagajohny]

My contact at MK has informed me that RB will indeed incorporate micro-sidepods, albeit not where you think.
First they replaced their twin air-to-air intercoolers with a water one, like most cars today, to empty up the sidepods. Therefore, the remaining sidepod cooling will be pushed into the monocoque recesses that were made for the intercoolers (as illustrated in my old drawing). Furthermore, they will continue to rely on a significant centerline cooling system. And to address the drag issue associated with the rear wheels, RB will put... delta-shaped & empty sidepods in front of them, as seen in the Brabham Bt55 or the Tyrrell 012 and other cars of that era.
https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-yzgoj/i ... 71.jpg?c=2

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GGb5EgTWAAA ... name=large

That's not possible under the current regulations, that bodywork would be outside the legality zones i.e. the orange box here:

https://f1tcdn.net/images/news/2019/int ... gs-iso.jpg

Thanks for the clarification. I was wondering if it would be legal.

[f1isgood]

To mimic the zeropod, wouldn't RB have to change their chassis? The location of the SIS? And all the other issues that come with the concept like drag etc?

Is a potential change to a vertical inlet the same as adapting zeropod? I don't think so, and I think it's being oversold at this point.

[K1Plus]

To mimic the zeropod, wouldn't RB have to change their chassis? The location of the SIS? And all the other issues that come with the concept like drag etc?

Is a potential change to a vertical inlet the same as adapting zeropod? I don't think so, and I think it's being oversold at this point.

They'd have to move the radiators back, shrink wrap the rear and switch to water-air cooling layout instead of air-air.
Considering they already have the overbite, if the supposed zeropod fails, they can go to a W14B style of overbite downwash sidepods with a small curvature at the rear, like the revised Spa spec.

[AMG.Tzan]

Wondering where the upper side impact protection will be if the sidepods are gone! Mercedes had it inside a wing…Red Bull doesn’t seem to have gone down this route!

So I’m not expecting a zero pod solution like Mercedes’s! It will probably have quite small sidepods but not like the Mercedes ones in shape…

[AR3-GP]

Wondering where the upper side impact protection will be if the sidepods are gone! Mercedes had it inside a wing…Red Bull doesn’t seem to have gone down this route!

So I’m not expecting a zero pod solution like Mercedes’s! It will probably have quite small sidepods but not like the Mercedes ones in shape…

The "zeropod" article was clickbait. Your intuition here is better.

[Mmgnt]

My understanding based on what I'd read (somewhere... Can't find it now) is that RB19s top speed advantage was partially due to how the radiator spillage was directed over the sidepods. Basically it reduced DF but also drag at high speeds only.

Does anyone recall if this is true and/or specifics?

If it is the case, I wonder how they are planning to achieve the same thing with this new design, if the spillage is under the pods instead...

I would love to know more about how this works. If anyone can provide me with article or video links about how radiator spillage improved top speed then that will be helpful. Thanks!


Edit: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/gary ... m-pay-off/

Is this the article you were referring to?

I don't think it was that one specifically, but was almost certainly from Gary Anderson. I'll try to find it...

[Mmgnt]

Almost certain there's a panel/cover on top sidepod surface which is hiding a deeper waterslide.

The way the cover interfaces with engine cover is not correct for RB bodywork - just look higher up the sidepod. It's essentially taped into place, not dissimilar to box cover they had on floor edge

https://i.imgur.com/8UENCFN.jpeg

Silverstone test images from angles at which this panel should be visible (if it was there when they ran on track)

https://i.imgur.com/8TX0kWN.jpeg

https://i.imgur.com/V8wL2HQ.jpeg

Look at where the Red Bull sticker is placed on launch vs Silverstone car. Similar area yet in Silverstone test pic the panel should be intersecting the logo or at least getting near the 'd' of 'Red' but it's nowhere to be seen

Additional perhaps controversial theory

Unlikely but possible outlet spotted? It's in the volume it could be housed within and the bulge that could be an outlet is visible on multiple photos of the car at Silverstone but there's no feature at the launch that would show such a bulge.

https://i.imgur.com/JLLHHM6.jpeg

https://i.imgur.com/Efkz4Ed.jpeg

No super obvious waterslide in that region, it's possible they ran with a masking panel on track too. Or some trickery with hiding something else, outlet perhaps.
https://i.imgur.com/7wJe9NG.png
https://i.imgur.com/8UENCFN.jpeg

While looking for other info, came across this from Gary Anderson that, to me, would indicate that it wouldn't make sense to have waterslides on a car where the spillage is being redirected down, as the RB20 seems to have:

we have all seen what we have called the Ferrari ‘bathtub’ sidepod top.

All are designed to do the same thing: contain the airflow spillage that is generated when the radiators within the sidepods just can’t flow the amount of air that is presented to them. Controlling this flow – which only happens at high speed – is important to the overall efficiency of the coke bottle area of the sidepod flow structure.

[Cs98]

My contact at MK has informed me that RB will indeed incorporate micro-sidepods, albeit not where you think.
First they replaced their twin air-to-air intercoolers with a water one, like most cars today, to empty up the sidepods. Therefore, the remaining sidepod cooling will be pushed into the monocoque recesses that were made for the intercoolers (as illustrated in my old drawing). Furthermore, they will continue to rely on a significant centerline cooling system. And to address the drag issue associated with the rear wheels, RB will put... delta-shaped & empty sidepods in front of them, as seen in the Brabham Bt55 or the Tyrrell 012 and other cars of that era.
https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-yzgoj/i ... 71.jpg?c=2

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GGb5EgTWAAA ... name=large

I couldn't tell if this post was serious or not, but if so...intriguing.

Considering the poster hasn't elaborated and was the same guy who posted this (https://i.imgur.com/XN0DthO.png) in the RB20 speculation thread, I have a feeling we have a comedian on our hands. Could be wrong ofc.