General
Could this be the cause of the imbalance in the RB16?
- GPblog.com
Both Max Verstappen and Alexander Albon had a hard time keeping their car on the track during the Austrian Grand Prix last weekend. Especially during the free practice sessions on Friday there some issues with the balance, especially in slow corners. It's a problem that also came to light during the winter tests in Barcelona, but what could be the cause of that?
Mark Hughes is one of the veterans of the motorsport news and he has a suspicion where the balance problems at the RB16 originate from. This could be a combination of the high-rake concept and the front suspension of Red Bull Racing.
For Formula1.com Hughes explains that the 'high rake' concept, in which the car leans forward as it were, loses relatively more grip at low speeds because the rear goes up more than the Mercedes does for example due to a lack of downward pressure. As a result, air escapes from underneath the car, negating the effect of the high-rake concept.
Front suspension design too aggressive?
Red Bull Racing has always been able to absorb this in the past by building up the grip loss very gradually, but the RB16 now seems to lose grip very suddenly. According to Hughes this could be caused by the unique front suspension.
All front wheel suspensions in Formula 1 have been designed in such a way that they push the car down a little at full steering angle. This allows more downward pressure to be generated at the front in slow corners. The unique suspension of the RB16 might do this too effectively, resulting in suddenly a lot of grip at the front and too little grip at the rear.