After dominating the 2023 season so far by winning every race, Red Bull found itself unable to get one of its cars into Q3 for the first time since the 2018 Russian Grand Prix. Although its pace was better in race, she failed to finish on the podium.
This surprise shape change came on the same weekend that two separate clarifications to the FIA rules came into force regarding flexible bodywork parts.
The first, known at TD18, tightened the rules regarding flexible wings – and in particular the teams’ tricks to hide the moving mechanisms and clever designs that revolved around the nose.
The second, which was more discreet, was an updated version of the TD39 which originally came into play during the 2022 Canadian Grand Prix to help eradicate the porpoise.
The updated wording of this directive prohibits any tricks that teams might have done to exploit tolerances regarding the flexibility of the ground around the skate block holes. Some companies were suspected of using it to vacuum their boards and floor much closer to the ground at high speeds without risking too much wear.
But despite the timing of Red Bull’s struggles coming exactly as those new TDs came into play, the team believes it’s a red herring to suggest that’s the reason they’ve struggled.
In fact, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner insisted the team made “no” changes to its car due to the FIA’s new stance.
When asked to explain the details of what went wrong, Horner replied: “These are purely engineering questions. There is no miracle solution in this profession.
“I know you all would like to blame TD, but unfortunately we can’t even blame that because they didn’t change any component of our car.”
Christian Horner, Red Bull Racing team principal
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
Pressed on whether the team needed to change the way it operates any of its components, Horner replied: “No. Zero.”
Rather than Red Bull’s struggles being TD-related, Horner instead suggested the trigger for their qualifying struggles was setup-related, with the team getting it badly wrong from the start in Friday’s practice.
“We knew coming here we would expect closer competition,” he said. “But I think it surprised us a little bit, how far away we were on Friday.
“I think we just weren’t in the right operating window for the car, especially on a single lap. And when you’re not there, the tires are horrible. Everything just doesn’t work.
Horner suggested the problem could be attributed to the team placing itself in the wrong window with its pre-weekend simulations – with things being particularly complicated this year by track resurfacing which altered the nature of the bumps and the grip levels of the circuit.
There were also further complications in Red Bull’s race preparation when it introduced a new floor update, which it ultimately chose to remove for qualifying because it was not sure this is the cause of his problems.
“I think maybe our simulation before the weekend didn’t lead us to the right conclusion,” Horner said. “Then you have to kind of get yourself out of there.
“I think we ended up in the wrong window and that exposed some of the weaknesses of the car. But it’s actually been a very useful lesson for next year because it gives us some very useful information and some things that we hope we can address in our RB20.
One of the main strengths of the RB19 is its ability to maintain a predictable aerodynamic platform at different speeds, making it more consistent in different types of corners.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB19, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W14
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
The team’s efficient ride control also allows the car to ride close to the ground at high speeds (where downforce is greatest) without bouncing. With a relatively high stationary ride height, this suggests that the car is running on a soft suspension that can bring multiple benefits.
However, it suffers more on bumpy tracks, and there was intrigue at the Belgian Grand Prix earlier this year when it emerged that its drivers were backing into the Eau Rouge during the race to avoid the car hitting too deep.
Reflecting on the weekend, Red Bull chief engineer Paul Monaghan said Singapore publicly exposed some weaknesses in the car that were already well known within the team.
“We have some inherent problems that we can’t necessarily solve on a race weekend,” he said. “We made a few mistakes and it all culminated in our elimination in Q2.”
He added: “This is nothing fundamental but mistakes were made along the way, and [there were] some issues we can fix next year. Let’s go.
After dominating the 2023 season so far by winning every race, Red Bull found itself unable to get one of its cars into Q3 for the first time since the 2018 Russian Grand Prix. Although its pace was better in race, she failed to finish on the podium.
This surprise shape change came on the same weekend that two separate clarifications to the FIA rules came into force regarding flexible bodywork parts.
The first, known at TD18, tightened the rules regarding flexible wings – and in particular the teams’ tricks to hide the moving mechanisms and clever designs that revolved around the nose.
The second, which was more discreet, was an updated version of the TD39 which originally came into play during the 2022 Canadian Grand Prix to help eradicate the porpoise.
The updated wording of this directive prohibits any tricks that teams might have done to exploit tolerances regarding the flexibility of the ground around the skate block holes. Some companies were suspected of using it to vacuum their boards and floor much closer to the ground at high speeds without risking too much wear.
But despite the timing of Red Bull’s struggles coming exactly as those new TDs came into play, the team believes it’s a red herring to suggest that’s the reason they’ve struggled.
In fact, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner insisted the team made “no” changes to its car due to the FIA’s new stance.
When asked to explain the details of what went wrong, Horner replied: “These are purely engineering questions. There is no miracle solution in this profession.
“I know you all would like to blame TD, but unfortunately we can’t even blame that because they didn’t change any component of our car.”
Christian Horner, Red Bull Racing team principal
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
Pressed on whether the team needed to change the way it operates any of its components, Horner replied: “No. Zero.”
Rather than Red Bull’s struggles being TD-related, Horner instead suggested the trigger for their qualifying struggles was setup-related, with the team getting it badly wrong from the start in Friday’s practice.
“We knew coming here we would expect closer competition,” he said. “But I think it surprised us a little bit, how far away we were on Friday.
“I think we just weren’t in the right operating window for the car, especially on a single lap. And when you’re not there, the tires are horrible. Everything just doesn’t work.
Horner suggested the problem could be attributed to the team placing itself in the wrong window with its pre-weekend simulations – with things being particularly complicated this year by track resurfacing which altered the nature of the bumps and the grip levels of the circuit.
There were also further complications in Red Bull’s race preparation when it introduced a new floor update, which it ultimately chose to remove for qualifying because it was not sure this is the cause of his problems.
“I think maybe our simulation before the weekend didn’t lead us to the right conclusion,” Horner said. “Then you have to kind of get yourself out of there.
“I think we ended up in the wrong window and that exposed some of the weaknesses of the car. But it’s actually been a very useful lesson for next year because it gives us some very useful information and some things that we hope we can address in our RB20.
One of the main strengths of the RB19 is its ability to maintain a predictable aerodynamic platform at different speeds, making it more consistent in different types of corners.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB19, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W14
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
The team’s efficient ride control also allows the car to ride close to the ground at high speeds (where downforce is greatest) without bouncing. With a relatively high stationary ride height, this suggests that the car is running on a soft suspension that can bring multiple benefits.
However, it suffers more on bumpy tracks, and there was intrigue at the Belgian Grand Prix earlier this year when it emerged that its drivers were backing into the Eau Rouge during the race to avoid the car hitting too deep.
Reflecting on the weekend, Red Bull chief engineer Paul Monaghan said Singapore publicly exposed some weaknesses in the car that were already well known within the team.
“We have some inherent problems that we can’t necessarily solve on a race weekend,” he said. “We made a few mistakes and it all culminated in our elimination in Q2.”
He added: “This is nothing fundamental but mistakes were made along the way, and [there were] some issues we can fix next year. Let’s go.
