Technical analysis of the Red Bull RB15: the first with Honda heart
The presentation of another of the expected ones arrives, another of the large ones, the Red Bull RB15 with Honda engine for the 2019 F1 season. It's a new era as the team's spokesmen have said in the presentation, but we'll have to wait to see how good that era is, because it could be it and a lot, but you have to be cautious. In fact, they already have prepared a pessimistic speech that they have been in charge of promoting days before saying that depending on how they do, that will determine if they continue in F1 or not. The same song as always, the 'hit of summer' with Red Bull that have been threatening to leave for years and already tires ...
As I say, it is a completely new era, with Max Verstappen and without Daniel Ricciardo , which will now be replaced by Pierre Gasly. We will see how the young pilot who climbs from Toro Rosso does it. All looks are attentive to Honda , and whether or not the new engine has improved, as we all know how well the Red Bull technicians and erodinamists work with that guru who is Newey. So if they give them a good engine, they will do the restro. They have the facilities, the tools, the staff and the money. That's why they do it so well in terms of performance year after year and they do not give off like other teams.
By the way, as you can see, they have presented a new radical decoration to celebrate their union with Honda and that they will probably leave for the tests. A darker base tone that seems to be a bluish gray graphite to not prude the essence of Red Bull, and with such nice matt tones that we have been accustomed to seeing the signature of energy drinks in recent years. And in addition, Red Bull stripes have been added throughout the body of the car forming a pattern. Many may seem very pretty, I honestly do not see it ugly, but I prefer the decoration of last year. I am very pro of the matte colors, I love them, but I think that the RB15 has lost something aesthetically with respect to the RB14 ... What do you think? However, when the season starts we will see another decoration that will be the definitive.
Once again I am again surplus and say the same what I said with the technical analysis of the Renault. Who lies? Who tells the truth? Will the Renault engine be so bad? Have they advanced so much in Honda? Will the Honda engine be so bad? Have they advanced so much in Renault? I think neither one thing nor the other, both companies have entered marketing mode and you have to take care with what you think. We will have to wait for the preseason to see how much mileage they accumulate and to see the reliability, but also to see the last tests when they all squeeze a little more and not hide so much to see if they really do decent times and we will not even be clear. It is best to wait for Melburne, which is more real there.
I do not doubt that Renault can do well and give a jump in quality , I do not doubt that in Honda they can do it well and take a leap in quality. Both have invested more this year and put more resources. But, even if they give it, the most interesting question will be: how far will they be from Ferrari and Mercedes? Because if the engines are very close, it is possible that there are pretty bastallas and even if Honda has done a great job, think of Max Verstappen fighting for the 2019 F1 World Championship. Why not? But let's be cautious first and judge later.
Recall that both Honda and Renault have said they will have a new engine this year, they will change the architecture.I quote this again, because major structural changes may result in reliability issues ... beware of this, because I do not know if Red Bull will be as patient as McLaren was.
Ok, now I start with the technical analysis and I do it apologizing because there will be more text than images on this occasion, since while other teams have been quite generous in terms of images, in Red Bull only They have shown two at the moment and we are a bit short of material to analyze. But I will do what I can ...
As for the front of the car RB15 , we see that what I say for the rest of equipment is not usually for Red Bull. I mean, when you present a car and you take the first look, you know more or less if it will perform well or badly, then everything depends on what others do to determine where they will be. But in the case of Red Bull it is a bit different, because although sometimes they seem simplistic and minimalist designs aerodynamically speaking, then they render very well and surprise us very pleasantly. Therefore, we can say that they are special cars.
We see the wing adapted to the new regulations , I do not want to repeat more of the same of the said in the technical analysis of the designs previous As you can see, it adapts to what the regulation establishes, without aerodynamic profiles on the wing, with five planes or flaps, and with those very simple endplates. Honestly, and this is what I was referring to in the previous paragraph, the design seems very conventional and simple if we compare it for example with that of Toro Rosso or Mercedes, in their STR14 and W10 respectively, which have surprised by their shapes and some solutions interesting Now, we talk about Red Bull, so I will not dare to say that it will be a bad car despite this "conventionality" in the front wing.
As for the nose, we see the famous opening at the tip of that nose that had already been using Red Bull in past seasons. And the S-Duct, with that slot on the nose so peculiar. The slot of the S-Duct matches a large step in the nose that makes it have a greater drop and is lower to bring the wing to the ground and improve aerodynamic efficiency as it has been doing Red Bull and other equipment that has copied this. If you look at the nose, it has a very stylized shape, with rounded edges and smooth shapes that are especially interesting from the aerodynamic point of view so as not to disturb the air too much.
In the case of McLaren and his strange nose of the MCL33 , there are three holes, one of them, the central, is quite similar to Red Bull and is believed to have a similar function, that of getting more air behind the nose although the normative force to have such a long moro. But in the case of McLaren, it has openings behind the nose and it does not have an S-Duct slot as we saw last year. On the other hand, Red Bull does have it and if we look at the hole in the nose it does not seem to have a short exit behind the nose, or else we could see some light or clarity through it. Unlike that, it seems that it is connected to the S-Duct to enhance the performance of this.
The suspension front follows a geometry almost traced to the Mercedes W10 with those suspension arms attached and forming a V, more than a Y.It is not something new in Red Bull, they were assembled last year and they were testing them, and although they do not appreciate well in the photo, the statements or rumors suggested that the design would be so aggressive and more similar to Mercedes for the rear wheels.
Returning to the same image as the At first, we see a tremendous complexity in the middle zone , with a lot of appendages and cuts in the bargeboards to adequately redirect the flow going to the back. This was also the past year. The halo is also very clean and without appendices as in the past year, without following what other teams have done. The brake lines are also very small and in an elevated position, equal or almost equal to those we saw in the Mercedes W10 this morning.
As soon as the airbox , we see a medium size, not too oversized as in other cases, but that has a considerable size. In addition, it has a round design as usual in Red Bull and is divided internally in a way that seems peculiar to me, with a profile of horizontal carbon fiber that draws attention, leaving at least two main channels for admission to the engine turbo and to refigerate other auxiliary systems as we already know (intercooler, oil tank of the gearbox and ERS). But, as I said in other analyzes, in some cases the openings of the pontoons grow and the airbox is reduced and in other cases the airbox grows and the pontoons are reduced. And in this case both are reduced, and Newey is very extreme or optimistic about the cooling and is too obsessed with aerodynamic efficiency, and this leads to their cars are not very reliable. eye! And that added to Honda ... We'll see. Of course they are not idiots by any means, and they will have everything studied, but in the past we have seen very fast but unreliable RBs.
Continuing with the things that I would like to tell about that frontal image, to say that the other thing that attracts attention is the sidepods or pontoons . Here the RB15 surprises us with a very aggressive design, that's why it said the previous paragraph. Since they are very very reduced, the air opening is minimal, the most reduced and extreme that we have seen this season and in previous, even more than the Mercedes. And that is striking at least, since Honda is not the most efficient engine, in fact it was the most consumed, compared to the Mercedes that is the most efficient and if this year's improvements are effective, it will be even more efficient. Why do I say this? Efficiency and heat go hand in hand, a more efficient engine heats up less, so Red Bull with a Honda may have sinned optimistic.
We see some openings that practically They look like a small slit from the front image. They follow a very peculiar form, which is very narrow in height in its most central area and it opens up as we get closer to the sides. Also, the width of the pontoons is very small, and with the shots very high as it seems that it has become a standard in the designs seen at the moment. This allows the chassis to stick further to the car in the lower area and thus leave air channels that go to the rear area. In addition, if we look at the way the air impacts from the front, we see that from the opening it has an inverted ramp shape, so it pushes the air into the lower zone to accelerate it.
As we can see, it is not very loaded, but it certainly has many small details that together they make a difference, that's what Red Bull always makes.We can also see that complexity of the middle zone. We also see some vertical profiles supported by horizontal aerodynamic profiles to the pontoon. The shape of the profiles is quite similar to those of the W10 and similar to those of the Red Bull RB14. As soon as what surrounds the air intake of the sidepod, we see a horizontal support just below it that holds the profiles we were talking about to redirect the flow to the rear area. There is also a wing over the pontoon that Red Bull has already presented in the past and this season they have copied many, it is diluted with the lid and a little of the pontoon comes out.
The mirror support also has the form of wing and extends quite around the area in front of the pontoon, with aerodynamic purposes in addition to those of support for the mirror. Nor do we see the Ferrari style mirrors with those holes to redirect the air to where it was wanted. If we go a little further back, we see a cap very tight engine , very compacata. Fortunately, they were going to force Hona to make a compact engine! This allows to see much of the bottom and a large area for air to travel to the upper area of the diffuser, with the benefits that it has. By the way, a background very worked in terms of ranutras and aerodinámicos apddices to eradicate the flow of sucido air that subtracts efficiency to the diffuser.
As for that compaction of the rear zone , we saw last year that they moved certain auxiliary elements of the Renault engine to more advanced areas and high to reduce the rear area. Something that neither Renault nor McLaren did. But they wanted special treatment in that regard to satisfy Newey's needs. With Honda they have done the same, and the rear area is quite similar to that of the Toro Rosso, since we remember that they share a motor, a gearbox and a rear suspension.
Finally, we see a rear wing very small , something that is already a mark of the house of Red Bull, since they get the most out of the car to avoid complications and to mount a smaller wing that does not penalize them so much in straight lines and without losing that aerodynamic load. It presents a straight form, somewhat elevated by the center as last year, and with a single central support just above the exhaust. In addition, it adapts to the new regulations and grows in width, but the endplates are very simple, I would say too simple, even if we compare them with the models of this year.
Update:
We were able to capture this other image of a filming day that the team has made to check that everything is OK to start the preseason, and you can see in the image the rake that the car has (something typical in Red Bull designs) ), with a very high rear area with respect to the front axle. And you can also see a detail that in the previous images could not be seen, a small deflector under the front wing that was appreciated before ...
Will it work? I'm sure if Honda He has created a powerful engine, they can qualify for podiums and some victories, because the chassis looks very good. If Honda has done an excellent job, then maybe wins and championship. And if they have sinned optimism and Honda remains unreliable, it will be in a compromised situation. So I think it all depends on 20% of Red Bull and 80% of Honda.
After the presentation of the Mercedes W10, the Red Bull RB15 arrived today and then we will have Racing Point, so do not go far, today is a hot day in terms of presentations. The dates chosen are not a post to coincide, but they have coincided.