F1 | Red Bull: Newey draws the line and looks for a double lead

How do I get the flow to where I'm interested? If you want reliable answers you need to ask Adrian Newey for clarification. The “genius” who conceived the Red Bull RB20 admitted that it was necessary to change the concept of the car that won the world championship last year by winning 21 of the 22 races on the calendar.

All the attention of observers was focused on the innovative cooling system which the staff directed by Pierre Waché divided into four distinct elements. We are talking about systems that are modular and can be adapted according to needs that vary from circuit to circuit.

These are solutions that were developed with two purposes: to offer a greater degree of freedom in defining the aerodynamic shapes and at the same time to control the center of gravity, because lifting the bellies to increase the undercut could cause a shift of the weight towards the high with a worsening of the car's handling.

If we broaden the observation of the RB20 to other interesting aspects of the car, another characteristic of Adrian's single-seater cannot be missed. In the front suspension, the Englishman kept the front arm of the upper triangle anchored to the edge of the body at the top, while the rear element is decidedly inclined and is pivoted to the frame much lower down.

The first reason is that Red Bull wanted to exaggerate the anti-dive effect: thanks to this design of the kinematics it is possible to control the behavior of the “box” during braking. During braking, the RB20 manages to reduce pitching, avoiding sudden changes in height, so there are no sudden losses in aerodynamic load, giving drivers the sensation of having a more balanced car in their hands than the best competition.

But this purely mechanical aspect is also associated with an important aerodynamic function. Our Giorgio Piola he drew a yellow line that joins the two upper arms of the suspension and if you extend the dotted line you discover that it reaches right at the entrance to the Venturi channels of the bottom.

Red Bull RB20: the anti-dive front suspension with also an aerodynamic function

Picture of: Giorgio Piola

Newey, therefore, ensured that the air laminated by the suspension generates a clean flow destined for the bottom with the aim of increasing the aerodynamic load and, therefore, the efficiency of the RB20: being able to count on greater downforce produced by the body car, Red Bull could afford less resistant wings.

For the umpteenth time we have had the demonstration that each element that makes up its own F1, Adrian demands that we do not limit ourselves to ensuring the primary function, but the positive effects must emerge among several advantages to be put together…