Tech: Red Bull’s Upgrades Revealed During Silverstone Run

On Thursday (25/06), Red Bull took to the track for the first time since pre-season testing, with Alex Albon running the RB16 at Silverstone.

Their star driver Max Verstappen wasn’t present due to complications surrounding the 14 day quarantine that drivers are currently not exempt from. However they will be come the 2 British F1 races later in August.

Unlike several other teams, including main rivals Mercedes and Ferrari, Red Bull opted to run their 2020 car at Silverstone, taking the hit of a 100km limit rather than unlimited running teams gain from using their 2018 car.

This seemed to be so that they could test several aerodynamic upgrades the team plans to bring to the season opening race in Austria, rather than just getting acquainted to the new post-COVID protocols.

The biggest change was to the RB16’s floor, with the addition of ‘hedgehog-style’ fins above the already enclosed holes along the edge of the floor. This will have been done in an attempt to improve the airflow around the rear tyres, which will reduce both thermal and mechanical tyre wear and improve the handling of the car, notably in controlling oversteer.

Floor fins seen on the RB16 at Silverstone

Further updates come around the front half of the car – the team has altered the layout of the bargeboard fins, seeming adding more fins and more slots. This will be done to improve the airflow around the sidepods, with some air being directed towards the sidepod air intake to aid cooling, and some being direct around the sidepod and down the ‘Coke-bottle’ shaped engine cover seen on modern F1 cars.

Sidepod and bargeboard fin upgrades

It was also noted that the team was monitoring the front wing flex, with a highspeed camera seen looking at the front wing and a reference point on the endplate. There are very strict rules set about how much front wing flex is allowed, making it a very important parameter to monitor as a lot of downforce can be gained with very little changes, but overstepping these particular regulations can lead to hefty penalties.

Its not known if all of these updates will be on the car in Austria, or if there are more updates yet to come before next week’s race.

Formula 1 returns on July 3rd – 5th, for the Rolex Grosser Preis von Österreich at the Red Bull Ring.