Team Oracle Red Bull is the reigning constructor’s champion of Formula One. Their driver Max Verstappen has won back-to-back driver’s world championships as well. Not only that, he is on his way to winning the third title for himself and the team’s second constructor’s title in a row. However, people may ask what’s the secret of Red Bull’s hegemony on the grid at present. The answer is quite simply their perfect RB19 car.
Under the cost cap era, other F1 teams have mostly suffered with their respective cars. On the other hand, team Red Bull has enjoyed tremendous success over the last two years. However, in the Monaco Grand Prix this year, everybody was able to witness the bottom floor of the RB19 car as a crane lifted Sergio Perez’s car after the crash. Since then, everybody, including the rival teams, has been curious to know how the Milton Keynes team was able to build such a strong floor underneath the car.
Rival Teams In Awe Of RB19’s Floor Design
The RB19’s floor design has been a hot topic to ponder for the other teams on the grid as the Monaco Grand Prix proceeded. And the excitement was not only limited to Mercedes but also other teams like McLaren. Moreover, McLaren’s boss Andrea Stella in a team principal’s press conference even commented on the floor design of the Red Bull car. The McLaren boss said that he likes the complexity of the RB19’s floor design. He added that 100 aerodynamicists in the McLaren team would now study it in detail to understand its structure and functioning. As he mentioned, “However, when I saw the floor design, I was like, Hats off to Red Bull. No wonder they are getting such results and performances out of the car.”
On the other hand, Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur acknowledged that it is impossible to copy a part of the car because “it is a more global concept.” He feels that a car’s performance is much more than just an accumulation of a few parts of the car. Hence, the RB19’s floor is inextricably linked with other parts of the car’s design. Moreover, all the team bosses expressed that they had photographers ready to take pictures of their rival’s cars to have a detailed study. Apparently, the team bosses are eager to know what the competitors are up to.
Mercedes Is Well Aware Of Red Bull’s Hegemony Due To RB19
Last year, team Red Bull won 17 races in the entire season. In that, Max Verstappen won 15, and Sergio Perez won a couple. And this year was no different. As expected, Red Bull, with their RB19 car, is dominating every other team on the grid. After the first two Grand Prix races, even Mercedes star Lewis Hamilton complimented the RB19 car, saying, “Even in the days when we were fast, our cars could not generate the pace that RB19 possesses.”
Hamilton later asserted that RB19 is the fastest car he had seen. The arch-rivals also expressed their excitement after seeing the bottom of the RB19 car. And after these floor images came out, James Allison, technical director of Mercedes, said that those pictures of the floor of the Red Bull car would be beneficial for every other team to know. Lewis also joked about it, saying, “Yeah, I have those pictures on my phone. And I look at those from time to time. Sometimes even zooming on it.”