The apparent ease with which Max Verstappen climbed from fifteenth to second in Jeddah was yet another demonstration of the competitiveness of the RB19 and the enormous speed gain with open DRS, not to be confused with the already excellent aerodynamic efficiency with closed wings . In fact, Red Bull enjoys low overall aerodynamic resistance and a Honda hybrid that pushes to the point of braking. However, Verstappen’s comeback in Jeddah also highlighted the great power of the mobile wing, which we tried to explain.
Federico Albano
We have considered the data from the Jeddah race, comparing those of the four best-performing cars at the moment, ie RedBull, Aston Martin, Mercedes And Ferrari. We carefully chose the laps that appeared to us to be the most representative and, in them, we focused on the comparison in the back straight, the fastest point on the track. We filtered the data and used a series of polynomial regressions in order to obtain “clean” and comparable graphs, both in terms of speedwhat of accelerations (G) longitudinal.
What emerges from the first glance is one clear distinction between two car concepts that are living up to expectations on the track, namely Red Bull and Aston Martin, and two admittedly problematic, such as Mercedes and Ferrari. In fact, it can be seen that both the purely speed increase and the acceleration increase are greater for the RB19 and the AMR23. In particular, the Red Bull stands out for both top speed and acceleration, but, looking at the graphs, it can be seen that even with DRS closed, acceleration on a straight line tends to be higher for Newey’s car than the competition, confirming the general aerodynamic efficiency, already amply noted in the previous analyses. Another interesting fact is that the acceleration values for the reference car in any case remain higher than zero up to practically the braking point. This aspect is one of peculiarities of the hybrid (former) Honda, which has continued to shine in this respect since 2021, and which can literally “spread” the discharge of energy to the end of the straight. Aston Martin also has an abrupt interruption of acceleration, but this occurs well before braking, when the Mercedes Power Unit enters the “clipping”, even with DRS open. In the comparison between Aston Martin and Red Bull it must be kept in mind that the car of the Stroll team has a load level of high design, even to the detriment of efficiency, which is why it is the slowest in a straight linewith numbers generally between 8 and 12 km/h lower than RedBull, even with DRS open. The exceptional nature of the Austrian team’s feedback also lies somewhat in this: the RB19 has a longer and more intense acceleration phase than the competitionwhile traveling at already higher speeds. As for the SF23 we note instead a certain inefficiency both with closed and open wings, with a less incisive increase in acceleration than the two teams analyzed up to now. The perception is that of an aerodynamic package which in Jeddah already had more downforce than the competition in an attempt to optimize the race pace, but which nonetheless doesn’t perform as expected. Lastly, on Mercedes, we note a higher than average acceleration value with closed wings, while an increase really ridiculous open wing. This demonstrates how the W14 took to the track in Jeddah with a not very high level of load and at the same time confirms that there is a marked need at Mercedes to resort to modifying theincidence of wings to change the level of downforce, also confirming a functioning in this case decidedly not optimal of the fund of the single-seater. Absolutely i reasons which lead to the great effectiveness of the DRS RedBull seem different and all competing. The characteristic of being able to bring an avery low setting guarantees the generation of the load in an incredibly efficient way, giving a “starting” level of the car already superior to the competition. Added to this is the probable ability to use it stall of various components to bring down drag levels, which in turn ensures a energy surplus that the Honda Power Unit masterfully manages to use. Finally the suspension package it seems capable of being meticulously calibrated on this front too with a pitch that is always limited and a platform that remains aerodynamically stable while remaining effective on curbs and dips. Difficult, for now, to do better than this.
Charles Platella
In order to understand the origin of such speed with the DRS open, it is necessary to delve into the physical phenomena involved in the opening of the mobile wing. Intuitively, the activation of the DRS causes the upper profile to change inclination, reaching zero incidence and stopping generating load. Looking at the same process from another point of view, it could be said that, with the wing closed, the air impacting the flap creates a high pressure zone in front of the aileron. Immediately behind, on the other hand, a low pressure zone is established, relatively speaking, generating a thrust force from high to low pressure which corresponds to the resistance to advancement opposed by the airfoil. The opening of the DRS, on the other hand, connects the two environments, with the result of keeping the pressure “high” up to the rear area.
Activation of DRS reduces the strength of the vacuum in the environment behind the car, a change with great repercussions. In fact, it is the low pressure behind the car that “sucks” and accelerates the air from under the underbody, which is why increasing pressure reduces the efficiency of the diffuser, beam-wing and main wing profile. In turn, the power loss of the lower profile of the aileron and beam-wing further attenuates the rear vacuum, further reducing the force of extraction of the flows from the diffuser and the load generated by the bottom. The rear end of a Formula 1 should be seen as a single organ, in which the various components are designed to interact with each other and not as unrelated entities: rear wing, appendages of the wheel units, beam-wing and diffuser.
With DRS open, all together reduce the intensity of the low pressure in the rear, with the result of a flow that under the bottom flows with less energy towards the diffuser. The influence of the airfoils on the bottom performance had already been made evident by the 1979 Lotus 80, designed to make the most of the ground effect to repeat the 1978 world title. However, it was born without a rear wing, and therefore without an adequate depression behind the car, the flows under the car lost energy and the Lotus 80 did not meet the expectations of the eve.
The impression is that Red Bull has designed the entire aerodynamics of the rear so that, with DRS open, the depression drops more effectively, reducing the energy of the flows extracted from the diffuser and the load generated. We wondered if this drop in diffuser performance with DRS open reaches such a point as to cause flow detachment and stall. An educated guess, but not in the way you think. A stall of the whole speaker it would prove to be decidedly extreme and unpredictable, with problems of stability and load recovery when braking. Instead, it is more probable that in the more advanced areas of the bottom and of the Venturi channels local micro-stalls are generated, reducing those processes useful for keeping the energy of the flows towards the diffuser high, such as for example the generation of vortices. The Red Bull diffuser is full of recesses and complex geometries, where it would be possible to induce detachments in the flow without necessarily leading to the stalling of the entire diffuser, but simply reducing its effectiveness. As always, the devil is in so many details, which together make DRS Red Bull extremely effective. If we add to these the other stratagems used to keep drag low in a straight line with closed wings and the thrust of the Honda hybrid, the RB19 becomes unbeatable in terms of speed.
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