Mercedes has been struggling since last season, whereas their arch-rivals Red Bull are enjoying hegemony with a superior RB19 car. It is a mystery why the Austrian team has been so successful in the new cost cap era. Albeit, everybody knows that the RB19 car has been the secret of their success. But what have they done so differently with the car that other teams have not? Apparently, everybody had suspicions on the floors of the Milton Keynes team.
It was impossible to learn anything extra other than what team principal Christian Horner and the team revealed about the floor up till now. However, in the recently concluded Monaco Grand Prix, the RB19’s floor secret got “accidentally” revealed. A crane lifted the RB19 car, and people could take photos of the car’s floor. Amid this, many Red Bull’s rivals, including Mercedes, have expressed their intention to “study the photographs of the RB19’s floor.”
Mercedes Hopes To Learn A Lot From RB19’s Floor Images
Mercedes seems to be most excited than any other team to have a closer look at the Red Bull car’s floor. The trackside engineering director of the German team, Andrew Shovlin, openly mentioned that “The images give a clear description of the underneath of the car. It will help every team to know how Red Bull built their car.” He noted that under the regulations, the most essential parts are those which normally nobody gets to see. Hence, it is no wonder that teams will be all over those Red Bull images. Apparently, Monaco is an ideal place where it is easy to capture those pictures.
Technically speaking, the car’s floor is the place from where the vehicle gains most of the performance. However, that place also takes work to get a view of that often or easily. Not just Mercedes, even team Aston Martin admits that it is very interesting to get a sight of the RB19’s floor and how wooden the plank is. Tom McCullough, performance director of Aston Martin, also added that teams could learn a lot about how the planks should wear. He added that it is exciting for many aerodynamicists all over the pitlane to know what is touching.
Christian Horner Unfazed With The Floor Exposure Amid Lewis Hamilton’s Pun
Amid all this drama, Mercedes star Lewis Hamilton joked about those images while speaking with Rosanna Tennant, host of Chequered Flag podcast. Hamilton hilariously asserted that “I’ve saved those images on my phone.” Moreover, he would keep a close eye on those photos and would zoom in if necessary.
On the other hand, the Red Bull boss seemed a little haywire after this floor secret got out. When asked about the same, Christian Horner said, “It is very rude to look up skirts of people.” Although he seemed to be unfazed by the revealing of the floor’s secrets. Red Bull chief mentioned that every team here and there has spy cameras to capture images of rival cars anyway. Apparently, every team at some point was up in the air. Hence, it does not concern the Red Bull boss that much.