Red Bull made a shakedown at Silverstone with the real RB18 which was kept hidden at the critically acclaimed presentation on February 9, when the new livery was shown on a copy of the FIA and FOM show car.
In the world champion team they have been able to avoid the escape of too many images that clearly show the concepts of the car, even if some low resolution shots that have appeared on the web give precise indications: Adrian Newey has set his car to ground effect with sloping bellies, following the concept that exasperated the Mercedes W13 that we discovered yesterday.
In Milton Keynes, they would have a similar performance to the sides of the AlphaTauri AT03, knowing full well that certain solutions were born in Red Bull Technology and are available to both teams.
AlphaTauri AT03
Photo by: AlphaTauri
While waiting to see the RB18 closely before the Barcelona tests that will begin on February 23, we could understand that the front should have a pull rod suspension that would be in line with the choices made by James Key on the McLaren MCL36.
![McLaren MCL36: here is the front suspension pull rod](https://cdn-1.motorsport.com/images/mgl/0mb9Ewk2/s8/mclaren-mcl35-details-1.jpg)
McLaren MCL36: here is the front suspension pull rod
Photo by: McLaren
Red Bull, in short, would deviate from Mercedes and Ferrari who have remained faithful to a more traditional push rod scheme. The technical director, Pierre Waché, will have evaluated the advantages of lowering the internal parts of the suspension to the floor of the body, benefiting from a lower center of gravity.
But the doubt is that on the RB18 it is not only the pull rod scheme that attracts attention, but also the arrangement of the multi-link arms that take an extreme idea introduced on the RB16 and then abandoned by the world champion RB16B, while it was adopted by the ‘AlphaTauri AT02.
![AlphaTauri AT02: here are the multi link upper arms in the hub holder attachment](https://cdn-2.motorsport.com/images/mgl/0mb9vmA2/s8/alphatauri-at02-front-brake-1.jpg)
AlphaTauri AT02: here are the multi link upper arms in the hub holder attachment
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
If in 2020 there was only the offset of a triangle with two separate attachments of the arms to the hub carrier, on the RB18 there would also be that the rear element of the “non-triangle” would seem to pivot in the lower part of the body, giving way to a new concept aimed not so much at the mechanical function, as at the aerodynamic one, leaving strong doubts about the rigidity of the system.
The diagonal arm, together with the tie rod, would become an effective vortex generator, as well as a flow separator that would direct the air inside the Venturi channels, but will the kinematics really be like this?
The upper elements of the suspension and the lower ones would be very spaced: the lower triangle should be very narrow, as if to take up the idea of the Mercedes “tuning fork” that appeared at the beginning of the hybrid era in 2014, while the steering arm could be been kept behind these elements.
We are waiting for the Barcelona tests to clarify all our doubts: are these the aspects that Newey wanted to keep hidden and is there more to discover?
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