Adrian Newey on Max Verstappen’s Red Bull: “Here’s why we chose the pull-rod at the front”. Adrian Newey explained in detail the solutions adopted by Red Bull in the last seasons.

The mastermind behind the ground-effect RB18 that has set the standard in the last two championships, Adrian Newey, explained in detail the solutions adopted by the team at Milton Keynes that enabled Max Verstappen to dominate the last two drivers’ championships, in an interview at the end of September on the High Performance podcast.

With the regulation changes in 2022, the duality between the push-rod (strut) and pull-rod (tie rod) suspension systems at the front re-emerged. However, the performance advantage doesn’t come directly from using one or the other system, but rather from the angles of the rods and the geometry of the suspension. Furthermore, with the elimination of the bargeboards, the entire front suspension system remained the only element standing between the front wing and the floor.

“We wanted to position the driver quite far back, primarily for aerodynamic reasons and secondly for weight distribution. For aerodynamic purposes, I wanted to set the front section of the chassis further back. This would free up space, allowing us to create a nose with a sharp V-shape contour, which is always useful. By narrowing the nose, the front wing could work across its full width,” Adrian Newey stated.

“Since the chassis was set back, if there had been a push-rod suspension at the front, the rods would have been too horizontal because the chassis was too low. The alternative was a pull-rod, which is what we chose,” confirming that the decision to use a pull-rod was already part of the engineers’ plan.

Another area of interest on the car is the rear: with the cockpit moved back, the engine was also pushed back, leading to a shorter gearbox to stay within the maximum wheelbase distance of 3.6 meters, as set by regulations. “At the rear, despite the short transmission, we wanted to keep the bodywork tight. This was difficult with a rear pull-rod suspension, which we had been using since the 2009 regulations. That’s why we returned to a push-rod, as it allowed us to house the internal mechanics in front of the gearbox rather than at the sides, which is what we did with the pull-rod,” Adrian Newey revealed.