With 15 wins in 16 races in this year’s Formula 1 championship so far, the 2023 Red Bull RB19 holds exactly the same record as the 1988 McLaren MP4/4-Honda and has undoubtedly already secured a place in the pantheon of legendary cars among sports mechanics.

Adrian Newey has far surpassed legendary McLaren MP4/4 designer Gordon Murray in sporting achievements, and what the former told the official Formula 1 podcast “Beyond the Grid” sheds light on how he created the RB19 will be remembered forever.

The British aerodynamicist and managing director of mechanical engineering at Red Bull Racing said that he followed a different design philosophy from Mercedes and Ferrari with the RB19 from the start, implementing the new technical regulations that came into force from 20202.

The 2022 regulations brought ground effect back to Formula 1, that is, the generation of most of the lift by the air ducts that run under the floor and cause the Venturi effect. “It was the largest single regulatory change we have had since the ban on Venturi cars in late 1982.” Newey explained.

And he continued, talking about the original conception of the RB18: “You had to deal with the rulebook and try to figure out what architecture to follow: where should the front wheels be placed, where should the rear wheels be placed in relation to the given points of the chassis, the engine and the gearbox.”

They had to decide on the entire architecture. I focused on the architecture and then the front and rear suspension because those were the critical components that you have to try as hard as possible to get right.

Of course, if you make a mistake with the bodywork, you can try to improve it to some extent throughout the year. But get the structural architecture wrong and you’ll be stuck with it for at least a season. added the Brit.

Commenting on the major differences in design philosophy between the Red Bull RB18 and last year’s Mercedes W13, Newey added: “Obviously we went in an aerodynamic direction with our car last year, with the side vents and the design, with the overall concept of the car, which was almost the complete opposite of what Mercedes did.”

Last year Mercedes had a first glimpse of its competitiveness with its victory in Brazil. And then in such cases you are faced with the question of whether you should investigate Mercedes in case you have missed something, or whether you should stick with what you are already doing. And our intuition was to stick with it, so we did.”

In fact, the Brit revealed that the RB18 was developed in a much shorter time than the Mercedes and – especially – the 2022 Ferrari: As he said, the RB18 “Put together in less time than most, if not all, of our competitors. In 2021 we found ourselves in a major championship battle with Mercedes and, probably unfairly because it was the first time we had been in such a position in years, we decided to put a lot of our effort into development this year dedicate to the car.

Ferrari took the opposite approach. Since he wasn’t fighting for the title in 1921, he stopped developing the ’21 car too early and devoted himself to developing the ’22 car. Mercedes was somewhere in between.

We have evolved more than either of these two groups. And that theoretically put us at a disadvantage. But I think what we managed to do was get the architecture right.

So if the [RB]Ferrari, who finished 18th in Bahrain last year, were certainly just as quick, if not quicker, at the start of the season. We managed to get the basic building blocks of the car right and that gave us a good development platform for the rest of the year.”

Finally, Newey revealed how he dug very deep into the past to find solutions earlier and more efficiently than any other team to the problem of porpoise formation that was so intense at the start of the new regulatory framework and in 2022 – especially for Mercedes.

“We also had some jumps, but not as bad as other teams,” explained the 64-year-old designer. “But they existed and we had to deal with them. And I think we had a pretty good understanding of what we needed to do about it.”

With the first upgrade we prepared for the Bahrain race, jumps were now less of an issue than for the other teams. This meant we didn’t have to put as much energy into developing the car as Ferrari and Mercedes did.

I think the key point – particularly with these Venturi cars that came out last year, although that was true for last year too – is not just the aerodynamics, but the way it works with the chassis. And that’s a point where I maybe had a little bit of an advantage because I had similar experiences when I was at (Team) Fittipaldi and then working at (American) IndyCars.

I spent three seasons in IndyCars, where we also had Venturi cars. This allowed me to understand the interaction well [αεροδυναμικής και σασί]. I still remember the first time we went to the track with Fittipaldi Harvey Postwhite, the young technical director there, because the cars had such a tight suspension that he came up with the idea of ​​saving some weight by he threw out the front shock absorbers and springs and replaced them with rubber plates.

It was something he had experienced during his time in Hesketh. I remember Keke Rosberg coming down the old pitlane at Silverstone with his front wheels in the air – the jumps were so violent. I think that was an early lesson that what we were experiencing wasn’t just about aerodynamics, but about connecting aerodynamics to suspension.” concluded Adrian Newey.

Photo credit: Red Bull Content Pool

The Italian team introduced the SF-23’s redesigned floor at the Japanese GP, which confirmed during the three days in Suzuka that it solved a major problem of this year’s (and last year’s) Cavallino: aerodynamic stability in long, high-speed corners.

At the same time, the new surface – precisely because it generated more lift – also contributed to a further improvement in tire protection and management. As always in Suzuka, the tire wear on the four corners of the two SF-23s was on a par with Mercedes and McLaren.

A third advantage of the new floor was that it reduced the phenomenon of impact (jet floating) that had recently reappeared on Italian cars on the straights and in fast corners. It is assumed that the new floor has stiffer individual points, which make it less flexible and prevent the air from swirling under the car.

The success of the new floor, which actually confirmed the data for what had emerged from the wind tunnel, has made a very important contribution to the design of “Project 676”, that is, the Ferrari of 2024. Even though the car will come next season will be radically redesigned.

All of the numerous SF-23 upgrades the Scuderia has made to its car this year will make the same contribution. In particular, the floor has changed its specifications three times this year, the front and rear fenders have been redesigned three times each, and the design of the side vents has also been radically changed.

The conclusions drawn from each new development of the SF-23 and the analysis of all the data influenced the design and development of the prototype 676. Further minor improvements are planned for the race in Austin, Texas, and then the wind tunnel will be there for the first tests of 2024 -Cars released.

In addition, Scuderia director Fred Wasser also spoke about the need to improve the SF-23 in order to win second place in this year’s constructors’ championship (and the additional millions of dollars that come with it) against Mercedes.

In the last few races, the Italian team was able to reduce its gap to the English team from 56 to 20 points, thanks also to Carlos Sainz’s victory in Singapore – the only victory this year that Red Bull Racing was unable to achieve.

Wasser said that Ferrari cannot fully focus on the 2024 car because of this battle: “We cannot postpone this fight, the fight is today with Mercedes and we have to fight it. This is always the best way to prepare for the future: for the psychology of the team, so that everyone is “prepared”. That is crucial.” . And we will stay in this fight until the end of the year.”said the Frenchman.

And he continued: “It’s not about sacrifice, because being competitive means staying competitive. It’s too late to go into the wind tunnel again this year, but whatever we do for the current car will help us for the new year.”

Speaking about the new Suzuka floor and the benefits it brings, Vasser explained: “Everything you put in the car is about dynamics.” [εξέλιξής] from. Tire wear is a different story and should not be confused. But of course, momentum always helps.

For less than a tenth difference we would be in the front row [της εκκίνησης] And then things would be different – ​​we would start with a clean track and wind in front of us, etc. Sometimes small details make a big difference at the end of the race.

And I think it will stay that way until the end, the differences will be decided in hundredths of a second. When the differences are so small, sometimes you take a small step but feel like everything has changed. In reality this is not quite the case, from race to race or from track to track. For the drivers, the settings sometimes suit Carlos better [Σάινθ] and sometimes to Charles [Λεκλέρ]” Fred Wasser concluded.