By Carlo Platella
Racing Bulls has just returned from a difficult month of September in terms of results, with zero points collected in the four races played after the summer break. The Faenza team consoles itself with the newfound correlation with the development tools, after paying for the side effects of the updates introduced at the beginning of the summer. The Italian team has returned to keeping up with the development pace of rival Haasannouncing a tough challenge until the end of the year for sixth place in the World Championship.
The decline from Barcelona
Racing Bulls starts the season in a decidedly convincing manner, immediately establishing itself as the sixth force. The first development packages introduced at Suzuka and Miami work as expected, consolidating the Faenza team’s position as queen of the mid-group. Problems begin to arise from Barcelonawhen a new base debuts on the VCARB 01, to be precise the fourth specification since the beginning of the season. The Spanish package also includes new bodywork, refining the contour of the radiator vents and the curvatures of the slide bellies. The renovation of the sides was created to work in synergy with the new floor, trying both to better protect it from external turbulence through high pressure areas and to conserve more energy in the flows conveyed under the bellies in the direction of the gearbox.
Already in Spain, however, the team finds itself dealing with side effects of the new package, found on the track but not foreseen by the design tools such as CFD and wind tunnel. Between the Austrian and English Grands Prix, Racing Bulls then opted for a hybrid configuration, mixing components from the new package with others from the previous specification. However, the picture does not improve and the effects can be seen on the stopwatch. In fact, between the Bahrain and Imola Grands Prix the Faenza team enjoyed an average advantage in qualifying of a tenth and a half over Haas, and then suddenly moved to over half a second behind its rivals in the hat-trick of races in Barcelona, Austria and Silverstone.
The recovery
Not all evils have a silver lining, as the problems suffered on the track reveal the characteristics of the new package, allowing the team to understand its needs. The two VCARBs in Budapest they return to the updated Barcelona configurationmanaging this time to adapt the mechanical set-up of the suspensions to the needs of the new aerodynamic platform. “I think we had some time and figured it all out,” Daniel Ricciardo’s commentary at the time. “This helps you arrive at the weekend with a better understanding of the package and with the awareness of which set-up window the car likes.”
In Hungary the gap in qualifying from Haas dropped to just over a tenth, before moving ahead of its rival in the Netherlands. However, it should be considered that the tracks of Budapest and Zandvoort also highlight the strong points of the VCARB 01, more incisive in medium-low speed corners, compared to a Haas that is more competitive at high speeds and in a low load configuration. Racing Bulls, however, ends the summer on the upswing, thanks also to other small changes made to the car. In fact, at the events in Austria, Budapest and Zandvoort the team repeatedly intervenes in the delicate area of the aerodynamic appendages of the rear wheel units, which interact with the diffuser. There are also some tweaks to the halo, such as the removal of the upper profile and the modification to the central support fairing.
A new fund in Monza
The newfound confidence in design tools also emerges from debut in Monza of the fifth version of the fund. The innovations are concentrated mainly in the lower area, without any appreciable changes from the outside. In the Italian, Azerbaijan and Singapore Grands Prix, Haas’ average qualifying delay remains at ten and a half, while they wait to evaluate the updates on more traditional circuits.
On the other hand Racing Bulls finds itself dealing with a ranking that hasn’t budged for two months. In Faenza, however, calm is maintained, with the awareness that the fast and low-load tracks of Monza and Baku have enhanced the strengths of Haas, which is also accompanied by the sudden recovery of Williams with the updates of Zandvoort. Furthermore, the zero obtained in the race in Singapore contrasts with Yuki Tsunoda’s eighth place in qualifying, showing off a car with good potential. The impression is that the Italian team is putting its difficulties behind it and that it now has the tools to defend sixth place among the constructors.
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