Red Bull RB22

[Stu]

https://i.postimg.cc/GhW5j60B/20260126-115832.jpg

That image looks fake to me?

[Lasssept]

That image looks fake to me?

F1 inst

[organic]

https://i.postimg.cc/GhW5j60B/20260126-115832.jpg

That image looks fake to me?

It's real..posted by F1 account and official Barcelona circuit account.

Here's a rear view of the car and kind of a new perspective of the sidepods.

[TeamKoolGreen]

It is the closest thing to a Mercedes zeropod

[pantherxxx]

I'm surprised zero pod it not making return in more teams. Now that the venturi channels are gone, along with the porpoising issues. Maybe RB really nailed the engines, that's why they could afford such small sidepods.

[SB15]

https://i.postimg.cc/GhW5j60B/20260126-115832.jpg

That image looks fake to me?

too bad it isn't

[basti313]

It is the closest thing to a Mercedes zeropod

From what I can see, it is a zeropod. Once there are better pictures we need to compare the width around the sidepods, from what I can see this is basically the same as the cars are less wide.

I wonder if the approach here is like in 2014....go as aggressive as possible and widen up if needed?

[Badger]

A few thoughts.

- The issues with the zeropod were as far as I can recall drag and that they never got the floor to work properly. The floor I think will solve itself because it was venturi related. I do wonder how the drag will work on this car. There is a barge board area that tries to generate upwash, and you have the active aero. RB must believe they have a way to make it work or they wouldn't have gone down this path, efficiency is key.

- This must surely be a W2A cooling set-up now.

- This would not have been possible with Honda. This is the sort of packaging that only a fully integrated works team can pull off right away, and even then it may not be possible. Only Mercedes (as we saw in 2022) and (now) RBR can do something like this out of the box. Ferrari has the tools to do it but I've not seen them be so bold.

[basti313]

A few thoughts.

- The issues with the zeropod were as far as I can recall drag and that they never got the floor to work properly. The floor I think will solve itself because it was venturi related. I do wonder how the drag will work on this car. There is a barge board area that tries to generate upwash, and you have the active aero. RB must believe they have a way to make it work or they wouldn't have gone down this path, efficiency is key.

Is the drag story true or just a result from raising the car? I think they went away from the zero pod just because they did not get purposing under control. One of the core issues was the floor flexing because of lacking support.
RedBull had this flexing and purposing in general more under control and went towards the zero pod at the same time. Now they pull it off fully.
Interesting in this metal hinge now on the RedBull, that stabilizes the floor. One of the things that helped Mercedes.

[Emag]

A few thoughts.

- The issues with the zeropod were as far as I can recall drag and that they never got the floor to work properly. The floor I think will solve itself because it was venturi related. I do wonder how the drag will work on this car. There is a barge board area that tries to generate upwash, and you have the active aero. RB must believe they have a way to make it work or they wouldn't have gone down this path, efficiency is key.

Is the drag story true or just a result from raising the car? I think they went away from the zero pod just because they did not get purposing under control. One of the core issues was the floor flexing because of lacking support.
RedBull had this flexing and purposing in general more under control and went towards the zero pod at the same time. Now they pull it off fully.
Interesting in this metal hinge now on the RedBull, that stabilizes the floor. One of the things that helped Mercedes.

The drag is true, and at least on the previous generation, it was caused primarily due to rear tires if I recall correctly.

On a more conventional design, sidepods take some of that airflow and redirect it (or change the path/energy in general) before it reaches the rear tires. If you don’t have sidepods, air just “smashes” head on with the tear tire, which doesn’t exactly have a small drag coefficient to put it lightly.

[basti313]

The drag is true, and at least on the previous generation, it was caused primarily due to rear tires if I recall correctly.

Yes, this makes sense for the previous cars, especially at the beginning. I do not see that this was still crucial on the RedBull last year, as the sidepod went to the inside well away from the rear wheel, but I see your point in general.

If you don’t have sidepods, air just “smashes” head on with the tear tire, which doesn’t exactly have a small drag coefficient to put it lightly.

But for this year: I would say, that no sidepod on this grid really reaches a point where it would "protect" the rear tire from "standing in the wind". Everyone is directing as much air as possible into the channel between gearbox and board on the rear wheel. The rear wheel is standing there quite alone on all cars.

[nico5]

A few thoughts.

- The issues with the zeropod were as far as I can recall drag and that they never got the floor to work properly. The floor I think will solve itself because it was venturi related. I do wonder how the drag will work on this car. There is a barge board area that tries to generate upwash, and you have the active aero. RB must believe they have a way to make it work or they wouldn't have gone down this path, efficiency is key.

Is the drag story true or just a result from raising the car? I think they went away from the zero pod just because they did not get purposing under control. One of the core issues was the floor flexing because of lacking support.
RedBull had this flexing and purposing in general more under control and went towards the zero pod at the same time. Now they pull it off fully.
Interesting in this metal hinge now on the RedBull, that stabilizes the floor. One of the things that helped Mercedes.

The drag is true, and at least on the previous generation, it was caused primarily due to rear tires if I recall correctly.

On a more conventional design, sidepods take some of that airflow and redirect it (or change the path/energy in general) before it reaches the rear tires. If you don’t have sidepods, air just “smashes” head on with the tear tire, which doesn’t exactly have a small drag coefficient to put it lightly.

Yes and no. Ferrari did have large sidepods in the beginning and even 2023 but eventually had to move to the slides nonetheless. So it's not just drag. Without proper outwashing devices like two gens ago you risk having a lot of losses from the front tires (particularly upper wake) being drawn in above the diffuser, and I don't see it being much different in this ruleset

[SB15]

A few thoughts.

- The issues with the zeropod were as far as I can recall drag and that they never got the floor to work properly. The floor I think will solve itself because it was venturi related. I do wonder how the drag will work on this car. There is a barge board area that tries to generate upwash, and you have the active aero. RB must believe they have a way to make it work or they wouldn't have gone down this path, efficiency is key.

Is the drag story true or just a result from raising the car? I think they went away from the zero pod just because they did not get purposing under control. One of the core issues was the floor flexing because of lacking support.
RedBull had this flexing and purposing in general more under control and went towards the zero pod at the same time. Now they pull it off fully.
Interesting in this metal hinge now on the RedBull, that stabilizes the floor. One of the things that helped Mercedes.

The drag is true, and at least on the previous generation, it was caused primarily due to rear tires if I recall correctly.

On a more conventional design, sidepods take some of that airflow and redirect it (or change the path/energy in general) before it reaches the rear tires. If you don’t have sidepods, air just “smashes” head on with the tear tire, which doesn’t exactly have a small drag coefficient to put it lightly.

The only way the concept would've worked was if they had bargeboards to manage the front tyre wake properly, but since this was an 18 inch tyre instead of a 13 inch tyre, I don't believe this concept would've worked regardless.

So Mercedes sticking with the undercut for the W17 shouldn't be at all shocking and Ferrari thinks the same.

[SB15]

Is the drag story true or just a result from raising the car? I think they went away from the zero pod just because they did not get purposing under control. One of the core issues was the floor flexing because of lacking support.
RedBull had this flexing and purposing in general more under control and went towards the zero pod at the same time. Now they pull it off fully.
Interesting in this metal hinge now on the RedBull, that stabilizes the floor. One of the things that helped Mercedes.

The drag is true, and at least on the previous generation, it was caused primarily due to rear tires if I recall correctly.

On a more conventional design, sidepods take some of that airflow and redirect it (or change the path/energy in general) before it reaches the rear tires. If you don’t have sidepods, air just “smashes” head on with the tear tire, which doesn’t exactly have a small drag coefficient to put it lightly.

Yes and no. Ferrari did have large sidepods in the beginning and even 2023 but eventually had to move to the slides nonetheless. So it's not just drag. Without proper outwashing devices like two gens ago you risk having a lot of losses from the front tires (particularly upper wake) being drawn in above the diffuser, and I don't see it being much different in this ruleset

We should make a discussion about this in a different thread since this is all about the Redbull RB22 technical stuff only.

[Badger]

The difference being Mercedes were unaware of the downsides and never got the concept to work, RB saw that and still chose to pursue something similar. They wouldn't have done that on a whim, they must believe that this regulation is better suited for it, the question is why? The floor thing is clear, but the tyre wake situation isn't obvious yet.

Quite frankly I don't believe Mercedes has the chutzpah to pursue the zeropod again at the start of a new regulation, they've were burned too badly last time. The rest of the teams I don't think could pull it off.