McLaren, Red Bull and the topic of ride heights: the two Formula 1 teams are currently fighting for the drivers’ title. On one side there’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and on the other, the dominant Max Verstappen. It’s a challenge influenced by many factors – track adaptation, execution, tyre management, driver talent, and especially the car setup regarding ride height. And it’s precisely on this aspect that Andrea Stella identifies a possible key factor currently benefiting the Austrian team.
Ride heights on the MCL39
Andrea Stella, the Italian engineer and former Ferrari member, has offered a rather interesting technical analysis. According to him, when comparing the McLaren MCL39 and the Red Bull RB21, the main factor that differentiates the two cars in their fight lies in how they manage ride heights. This is a crucial element because the closer the floor of the car is to the reference plane, the more efficient the Venturi channels become. That much is clear.
Essentially, the goal is to lower the car as much as possible towards the ground to generate a strong amount of downforce. It’s a “clean” vertical load, as it doesn’t create the drag produced by the wings through their angle of incidence. However, within this reasoning, one fundamental element cannot be overlooked: the wear of the plank located beneath the floor.
One of McLaren’s weapons this season, based on what has been observed, is its ability to run the car low while consuming less of this component compared to rivals. Moreover, there’s an interesting detail worth considering. Some suggest that, due to the intrinsic dynamics of the British car, the MCL39 tends to scrape the floor more in the front section.
The complications of managing ride height
This is a theory still to be proven, and it partly contradicts the car’s excellent front end and its frequent ability to make the difference during corner entry phases. To this, one must also add that Ferrari has been accused of facing a similar problem. In fact, in several races, the Maranello car showed weak corner entry compared to other top teams. In any case, we’re talking about a very complex subject.
We’re still in the realm of hypotheses. On the other hand, it’s true that having more localized plank wear towards the front could, in general, allow the use of a lower ride height – with the resulting aerodynamic load benefits. It’s also important to remember that, when it comes to ride heights, suspension stiffness is a decisive factor to prevent excessive pressure on areas of the floor that tend to scrape the track.
But suspension stiffness also affects other aspects of vehicle dynamics. For example, a stiffer front end provides better control during turn-in, offering greater precision and improved direction changes. However, at the same time, it increases the tendency toward understeer. As we can see, it’s always a matter of compromise.
Red Bull, for its part, has modified the RB21 over the last few races. The team did so mainly by working on two specific parts of the car. The first concerns the front wing, which now offers a wider range of adjustments and helps control the rotation deficit that limited Max Verstappen’s performance earlier in the season. The second revised component is the floor, with reshaped areas to improve its aerodynamic efficiency.
Does the RB21 use the floor better than the MCL39? Hard to say…
According to Fernando Alonso’s former race engineer, since the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, the former world champion team has learned how to address all these aspects effectively, consistently achieving the best aero-mechanical compromise possible. Beyond circuit-specific traits, achieving a perfect weekend execution means optimizing every technical aspect of the car.
And it’s precisely here, thanks also to the exceptional talent of Max Verstappen and the approach of Laurent Mekies in applying driver feedback, that the Austrian team has made significant progress, providing the RB21 with more consistent performance. On the other hand, McLaren’s “regression” can be seen as a combination of various factors that the reigning world champions have struggled to manage effectively.
Referring to the Milton Keynes-based squad, Andrea Stella jokingly bets a symbolic coffee on the RB21’s ride height management, believing it will be a decisive factor in the remaining five rounds of the 2025 championship. Although there is much truth in the words of the team principal from Orvieto, it must also be said that McLaren, at least in the last three Grands Prix, has failed to optimize its qualifying performance. Had it succeeded, it might have won at least two races.
Verstappen, Red Bull and tyre management
There’s also the topic of tyre degradation, on which the team now led by Laurent Mekies has done an excellent job. They’ve been helped, to some extent, by circuits where tyre wear turned out to be less severe than initially expected. Even Pirelli confirmed this. Therefore, we’re looking at a combination of factors in which ride height certainly plays an important role, but it’s far from being the only decisive element.
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