Despite being all round super fast and winning three races from three at the start of this Formula One season, Red Bull Racing’s DRS has been the talk of the F1 paddock.
Lewis Hamilton first experienced it during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix where Max Verstappen’s qualifying mechanical issues meant the reigning world champion started the race from a lowly P15.
Hamilton: Red Bull have “insane” DRS
By just lap 12, Verstappen had climbed to P9 and was hunting down his arch rival Lewis Hamilton, who he dispatched with consulate ease at the first opportunity.
During the round of press interviews after the chequered flag, Hamilton described the performance of Verstappen and the Red Bull as “in another league.”
“We’ve got work to do to catch the Red Bull – it came flying past and disappeared,” Lewis complained.
“Max is in another league, his car is so fast. He passed me halfway down the straight and he was like 10 metres ahead. I don’t know how they are so quick on the straight – it’s insane.”
Red Bull DRS “super-duper”
The Red Bull DRS system which delivers the most incremental speed gan of all the teams designs has been th subject of a number of F1 debates.
Sky Sports’ Ted Kravitz described the Red Bull’s DRS as “super-duper” claiming to have information that it’s worth two to three tenths a lap when deployed.
Ex F1 car designer Gary Anderson believes Red Bull have mastered the combination effect of the airflow when the DRS is open over the beam wing that sits beneath the main rear wing.
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“Triple DRS” effect on RB19
Anderson describes the solution as “Red Bull Triple DRS”.
“When the DRS is open, the turning moment on the airflow from this component is reduced and therefore the beam wing stalls as a result. That will, in turn, stall the rear of the underfloor.”
Mercedes are using an old style Red Bull beam wing with a double edge though Ferrari have switched but their beam wing is minuscule compared to Red Bull’s.
Ferrari matching Red Bull race pace
Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur believes despite the Red Bull having a “mega big DRS” his team have already closed down much of RBR’s advantage.
During the recent Australian GP, Carlos Sainz had fallen back through the field after pitting for fresh tyres under the safety car. When the red flag was thrown Sainz was back in P11.
Following the restart Sainz easily m Ade his way back through the field and was sitting P4 before the last laps of mayhem saw him penalised with a five second penalty.
During the middle phase of the race, the Ferrari of Sainz was surprisingly close to the pace of race leader Max Verstappen.
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Vasseur says Ferrari have the solution
This will encourage the engineers back in Maranello who were targeted during the winter with closing the gap to Red Bull in straight line speed.
Vasseur now reveals he believes Ferrari are well on the way to achieving this goal.
“I think that the difference [in straight line speed] was probably bigger last year,” revealed the Ferrari boss who believed they would have been even closer to Red Bull than they are at present.
“We were expecting to compensate a bit more, but the gap was bigger last year,” he insisted.
“Now for sure we have room for improvement in this area. They are doing something different and they are doing something better for sure.”
“But we are onto it.”
Ferrari set to step up
As Anderson explains this season’s Ferrari has a redesigned rear end which may be capable of replicating the Red Bull “triple DRS”.
This is good news for Ferrari fans and despite their lowly rankings in the F1 constructors’ table, they could be the team about to make a big step forwards towards the pace of the RB19.
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f1 just casually dropped the sickest edit pic.twitter.com/OuWn0lrVet
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