07-10-2012, 21:48
Red Bull double DRS revealed in Suzuka
Posted on October 7, 2012
It’s not often that an innovation on an F1 car slips through without being noticed at a Grand Prix, but the talk of the Japanese Grand Prix was the double DRS device on the rear wing of the Red Bull, which had actually been on the car in Singapore.
The idea is a simple variation on something tried by Lotus this year, aimed at shedding even more drag than a standard DRS wing. Lotus have yet to be able to qualify and race with theirs as they have problems getting the aero rebalanced once the device is deactivated.
The Red Bull idea works simply; when the DRS is activated it opens a hole (where the narrow, curved grey piece is on the inside of the endplate) to channel air through the endplate and out through the main beam of the wing (the lower part), shedding drag. It helps with top speed and speed through fast corners.
Like Lotus, Red Bull needed help with qualifying, their chances in races were being harmed by not qualifying at the front of the grid. The DRS can be used in qualifying, but not the race and on a track like Suzuka, where there are many higher speed corners, there’s a good gain to be had.
So in Suzuka this device came into its own, giving Red Bull their first front row lock out of the season and setting Sebastian Vettel up for a momentous win, that blows the world championship wide open with only four points separating him from Fernando Alonso with five races remaining.
Red Bull also had a new front wing in Suzuka, which appeared to have been evolved to be sure to pass the more stringent FIA flexing tests, which were introduced to address rumoured rotation of the front wing.
Red Bull also had some updates to the rear suspension which helped to improve traction and rear tyre life. It was very noticeable from the audio on the on-board camera shots of Vettel’s pole lap that there was almost no wheelspin out of the lower speed corners.
The team has a tremendous momentum now and must be considered the favourites for the championship as the car is coming good at just the right moment, especially as Ferrari seems to be struggling to make updates work on its car.
http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/10/re...in-suzuka/
Posted on October 7, 2012
It’s not often that an innovation on an F1 car slips through without being noticed at a Grand Prix, but the talk of the Japanese Grand Prix was the double DRS device on the rear wing of the Red Bull, which had actually been on the car in Singapore.
The idea is a simple variation on something tried by Lotus this year, aimed at shedding even more drag than a standard DRS wing. Lotus have yet to be able to qualify and race with theirs as they have problems getting the aero rebalanced once the device is deactivated.
The Red Bull idea works simply; when the DRS is activated it opens a hole (where the narrow, curved grey piece is on the inside of the endplate) to channel air through the endplate and out through the main beam of the wing (the lower part), shedding drag. It helps with top speed and speed through fast corners.
Like Lotus, Red Bull needed help with qualifying, their chances in races were being harmed by not qualifying at the front of the grid. The DRS can be used in qualifying, but not the race and on a track like Suzuka, where there are many higher speed corners, there’s a good gain to be had.
So in Suzuka this device came into its own, giving Red Bull their first front row lock out of the season and setting Sebastian Vettel up for a momentous win, that blows the world championship wide open with only four points separating him from Fernando Alonso with five races remaining.
Red Bull also had a new front wing in Suzuka, which appeared to have been evolved to be sure to pass the more stringent FIA flexing tests, which were introduced to address rumoured rotation of the front wing.
Red Bull also had some updates to the rear suspension which helped to improve traction and rear tyre life. It was very noticeable from the audio on the on-board camera shots of Vettel’s pole lap that there was almost no wheelspin out of the lower speed corners.
The team has a tremendous momentum now and must be considered the favourites for the championship as the car is coming good at just the right moment, especially as Ferrari seems to be struggling to make updates work on its car.
http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/10/re...in-suzuka/
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