Red Bull Racing holds the strongest car in Formula 1 in 2023. Max Verstappen raced past Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes in Saudi Arabia. That speed difference is not just down to the car's good fundamentals. Red Bull has developed a wing that handles the DRS very efficiently.
Red Bull has best overtaking speed
That writes The-Race.com. The Beam Wing of the RB19 of Verstappen and Sergio Perez is said to be developed so that little downforce is generated by the extra wing at the moment the top wing is open. It would make a difference of around 10 kilometres per hour to the other teams when the DRS is open, which explains the RB19's incredible overtaking speed.
In Saudi Arabia, most teams' upgrade package included a modified beam wing. This beam wing is the smaller rear wing under the big rear wing. The beam wing stands a little upright and directs the wind that has passed over an F1 car upwards. The practical advantage of this is for the rear driver, who can therefore follow better and suffer less from disturbed air.
Beam Wing Red Bull makes DRS more effective
The downside is that the upright beam wing also blocks air and thus reduces top speed on the straights. The suction under the RB19 is sublime, giving the team more room to 'play' with the rear wing. In the case of the beam wing, Red Bull has a more aggressive more upright wing than the competition, according to The Race.
Because of this more upright wing, the beam wing interacts with the diffuser and the upper wing. When the upper wing opens during DRS and the wind turns past the car, the beam wing stalls. That so-called stall causes the wing to lose the ability to generate downforce. Red Bull handles this well and has ensured that the beam wing creates less drag than other teams when the DRS is active.
I hope Max wins every race until 2026. F1 is only fun when RBR is winning.
TD upcoming to stop this malarkey OR the rear wing, which is apparently legal at the moment, will be deemed much like the 'bendy wing illegal. Come on FIA, more in season changes that cost teams money.
If you check out Gary Anderson's article in the race, they'd have to ban the wing, the beam wing, and the diffuser, as it's not the wing alone, it's how all three elements work together that creates the effect they're getting. I know why people want the DRS banned, but if one understands today's cars aren't like the cars from 2010, the year prior to DRS, or 2011 when it was introduced. They could end DRS tomorrow and that would save them a day per race weekend, since how they qualified would be the way they finish since they can't pass without it. Why bother to run the race? People tend to look at a single aspect of these cars and think "if they got rid of that the racing would be better". I look at it and say "if the FIA would stop making bogus changes during the season the racing would be better". Nothing stops the other teams from copying what Red Bull chose to do as we've seen in some aspects already.
"I look at it and say "if the FIA would stop making bogus changes during the season the racing would be better". I'm in violent agreement. If engineer X is able to provide an answer to a problem that other engineers didn't or the FIA didn't think of a rule that tenders that idea as rubbish then engineer X is smarter than the rest and should be rewarded.
Don't think they need to stop it. The other teams just need to catch up.
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