Red Bull’s latest design tweak inspired by Williams
Red Bull has revealed that inspiration for the floor and diffuser changes introduced at last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix originally came from Formula 1 rival Williams.
As part of an effort to improve the dominant RB19, Red Bull made modifications to the floor edge and the upper corner of its diffuser ahead of the Barcelona weekend.
The change at the rear of the car – where the tops corners of the diffuser were profiled for greater curvature – were particularly interesting because the team admitted it was an idea taken from other cars.
In its notes submitted to the FIA to explain the tweaks, Red Bull said: “A small increase in local load towards the trailing edge of the diffuser profile in the upper corners has been extracted with a more curved profile taking inspiration from competitor designs.”
While the team did not offer more details at the time, it has subsequently revealed that the design changes were something it had looked at for a while after originally spotting it on a Williams back in 2022.
Red Bull RB19 diffuser corner
Photo by: Uncredited
Asked by Autosport about the tweaks that were copied from other teams, Red Bull’s chief engineer Paul Monaghan said: “You can't assume that you have the best solution in all areas of the car when you first put your car on the ground.
“Our currency is lap time, isn't it? If you look, that piece of floor design was out early in 2022. I recall the Williams had it quite early on and some other people had it.
“It didn't necessarily work for us then, but we've looked at it a couple of times, and it's a small benefit. It looks like a slightly larger change than is actually realised, as it's coming towards the back of the floor.
“So it's not going to be the most influential thing, but it helps a little bit. And you're quite constrained height-wise, where we can do it.
“It's been there for a while in our work. But we were in a position where we could include that in that local bit of the floor, and we've done it.”
Red Bull’s use of another team’s idea comes at a time when its main F1 rivals, Mercedes and Ferrari, have all copied the squad’s downwash sidepod concept in their bids to catch up.
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