The Oracle Red Bull F1 team, who dares to come closer to them? NO ONE! Even if you try to copy the concept and design of Red Bull, you will still be at 65 points, half of what Red Bull has made. Seemingly, the British team Aston Martin, which surprised everyone with their sudden comeback, came up this year with similar concepts as the Milton squad. And that is the reason why people started calling them “Green Red Bull.” But unfortunately, our eyes could not see what a technical expert, Paolo Filisetti from racingnews365, saw.
He explains the major differences between the Rb19 and AMR23, which can only be observed from the upper side of the cars. Looking at the floor facing upwards, Paolo found that the gearbox of Red Bull is almost half the size of Aston Martin. The upper side of the floor covers the key elements of the car, and it hides the gearbox too. But when you actually check it out, you can see a major size difference between the gearbox housing of RB19 and AMR23.
Now what does it mean? It means that Red Bull has placed the housing at a lower place than Aston Martin. This has helped the Milton-Keynes-based team to keep the diffuser channels away from the gearbox. And this must have enabled them to increase the width. So, the team has made no compromisation with the aerodynamics department.
How Is The Gearbox Of Red Bull Not In The Right Place?
When Adrian Newey and Pierre Wache designed the RB19, they prioritized one thing at first: performance at the fast corners. They developed a concept that produced the maximum amount of vertical load from the floor. It worked great. But perhaps they did not realize at what cost it was coming.
Apparently, the superior design of RB19 is not that superior. In the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and in the Australian Grand Prix, the RB19 did not go as envisioned. It was worth the one-two win, no doubt, but it should not be hidden that on both weekends, the gearbox of the cars was replaced. WHY? Because it gives enough speed, but it also gives driveshaft issues too.
Both the Red Bull drivers have pointed out complaints that their gearboxes made them suffer from less fluidity. Max Verstappen in Saudi faced the issue, and he had to start the race from P15. Sergio Perez in Melbourne faced braking issues, and he had to start the race from P20.
Now the question is, will these aero benefits turn into reliability issues for Red Bull in the future? Yes, according to the technical expert, this could definitely lead to more issues later in the year. The only thing that saves Red Bull is the massive gap they have maintained with its rivals. But if in case Mercedes or Aston Martin manages to cover up the gaps, the reigning champion team will no longer be the fastest car with the issues it is already dealing with.