Red Bull Racing 2012

[Robbobnob]

Face it, RB just does a better job of interpreting, manipulating, and administrating the rules than any other team. They go to the edge without getting burned. The goal is to when races without being DQ'd at the end of the day. Clearly they are the champions.

Brian

+1

[Crucial_Xtreme]

Here's Newey going on about "double agents" in F1. Pretty interesting if true though.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sp ... ering.html

[marcush.]

Adrian seems to be a bit paranoid ....
truth is there is a lot of fluctuation across the teams and somehow a lot of people can change without gardening leave.So from laminators to fitters moldmakers and aero and manufacturing people you will spread knowledge and best practise across the industry no matter how protective you are in your environment.Somebody knows about how RedBull made those flexi wings ..and somebody actually made them -not Newey-so it´s inevitable the knowledge is leaking ,it´s a fact of life.
To carry a bag worth 5€ to Monaco to prevent those pictures taken is nothing less than a negligence and if you did not tell your garage crew to cover it up then live with the pics in the media it´s the same with cars stranded a hoisted away...or build slow cars.. nobody tries to steal a march on HRts car these days?

[GrizzleBoy]

I wouldn't take that article too seriously.

The Sun is a magazine (I actually meant to type newspaper, but magazine seems quite fitting) for people of questionable intellect.

[browney]

Has anyone heard much technical analysis of Red Bull's strategy of gearing lower/sacrificing top speed?

While it is hard to judge how they would go if they went for a higher top speed (ie. would they still qualify as far up the front) it does seem like they are using the tactics that would apply in previous years, where it was much harder to overtake and being on pole was a much bigger help.

It seems like not being able to use DRS effectively cost them in Canada and that isn't the first race where they have had difficulty due to there low top speed.

[beelsebob]

Has anyone heard much technical analysis of Red Bull's strategy of gearing lower/sacrificing top speed?

While it is hard to judge how they would go if they went for a higher top speed (ie. would they still qualify as far up the front) it does seem like they are using the tactics that would apply in previous years, where it was much harder to overtake and being on pole was a much bigger help.

It seems like not being able to use DRS effectively cost them in Canada and that isn't the first race where they have had difficulty due to there low top speed.

I'm pretty confident they were expecting to be able to leverage the 0.3 second a lap advantage they had in the race as well as in qualifying. If they had, Vettel would have easily done a 2011 romp into the distance.

[raymondu999]

Vettel was what? 1.2 ahead at the first lap, 1.9 at the second lap? I think they were relaxing after that point - and from the live timing perspective it looked every bit like it was going to be a 2011-esque performance.

[beelsebob]

Vettel was what? 1.2 ahead at the first lap, 1.9 at the second lap? I think they were relaxing after that point - and from the live timing perspective it looked every bit like it was going to be a 2011-esque performance.

I don't – I think Vettel pushed the tyres too hard to get out of the DRS zone, hence why he struggled at the end of the stint. I think the McLaren had roughly equal pace to them.

[browney]

With 2011 thinking...

This year, the tyre windows mean races aren't that predictable and different strategy's mean you can get stuck behind a slower car that still has to pit (I think all of that is good compared to the predictable period we had for around a decade, but anyway).

All weekend it looked like there were going to be different strategies on (inevitable when we hear the 'it could be a one-stopper' and that 'even the supersofts would last all race').

I know RBR are much smarter than I am but it always seems like quite a bit of the importance shifts to straight line speed in a race (as opposed to qualifying), like we see everytime someone has the idea of making a smaller lighter motorcycle with less cylinders in motogp/sbk.

[SiLo]

They always go for a race setup on gearing, it's how he is able to pull away easily from the start, and once you're in clean air...

[myurr]

Vettel was what? 1.2 ahead at the first lap, 1.9 at the second lap? I think they were relaxing after that point - and from the live timing perspective it looked every bit like it was going to be a 2011-esque performance.

I don't – I think Vettel pushed the tyres too hard to get out of the DRS zone, hence why he struggled at the end of the stint. I think the McLaren had roughly equal pace to them.

I agree. It felt more like Vettel pushed on the opening two laps whereas Hamilton was more easing the tyres in. Don't forget that as Vettel pitted for tyres Hamilton was already in the DRS zone and was faster at that point. Alonso was also closing in. Vettel had to pit at that time because his tyres were shot, relatively, and he was going to start losing more and more lap time giving Hamilton and Alonso the chance to pass.

There were phases in the first two stints where Vettel looked like he could match Alonso and Hamilton, possibly even push them. But for the most of those stints he looked more like he was only just hanging on whilst the others were driving to target times.

[JMN]

Vergne ruining Vettel's weekend. Someone's in for the Marco treatment...

[beelsebob]

Vergne ruining Vettel's weekend. Someone's in for the Marco treatment...

Uhhh right... Because it wasn't the car design that was margional on cooling the alternator, and couldn't take a safety car in hot conditions at fault

Don't get me wrong – it's probably the right decission, as it leads to more race wins than retirements, but still...

[JMN]

Don't get me wrong, I actually agree with you.
However, going that fast on a punctured tire is almost bound to force out the safety car, hence hindering Vettel. I was merely referring to the row Alguersuari had with Marco after the free practice in Korea.
Just like the incident of today, it comes down to Marco not accepting any avoidable risks when Vettel's performance is at stake. Going that fast on a punctured tire isn't a balanced risk. It's just stupid.

[Nando]

Car looks mighty now. But he was a bit lucky in the start where he was the only guy on the grid not having to worry about another driver.