In F1, Red Bull “crushed” McLaren at Imola thanks to the new aerodynamic map. McLaren’s team principal Andrea Stella, immediately after the race where the MCL39s gave up, surprisingly beaten by a rejuvenated RB21, expressed some very important and interesting points. Technical considerations that are not easy to hear and effectively confirm what we already thought.
Stella clarifies the qualities of the MCL39
Andrea Stella talks about the aerodynamic map. The former Ferrari track engineer explains how its setup is totally different between Miami and Imola. Then he explains that the distinctive traits of the MCL39 on tracks like Bahrain, China, and Miami perfectly suit the British cars. While the high-speed sections of the Italian track do not offer any particular advantage compared to the other cars.
Moreover, according to the data they have, Red Bull’s updates have given a performance boost to the RB21. These are very interesting words because they highlight some technical aspects that differentiate the two cars in question. First of all, Andrea Stella talks about aerodynamic maps, a concept we often discuss, but only the teams have them in detailed form.
Basically, aerodynamic maps highlight downforce values based on changes in the characteristic angles of the car. These are the roll angle (when the car is in pure cornering), the pitch angle (when the car “dives” during braking, for example), and the yaw angle (i.e., when the vehicle rotates around the vertical axis).
McLaren confirms RB21’s step forward
We have made it clear many times on our pages: the downforce a car produces is not a constant value but strictly depends on all these “angles” because, depending on the combination, there is more or less ground clearance, which in turn produces more or less downforce. There is a combination of these parameters where the car, especially the floor, reaches the maximum vertical load peak.
Looking at the image below, we can see an example of an aerodynamic map of an F1 car. Andrea Stella refers to a comparison map between the two cars, which only they have. Currently, with the data available, it is not possible to create a precise graphical representation of the vertical load acting on a car, so we provide an example kindly offered by RaceCar Engineering.
Going a step further in the reasoning, the fact that the former Ferrari engineer no longer highlights marked differences in the zone corresponding to high-speed sections means that Red Bull has made progress. The Milton Keynes team has not simply extracted an untapped potential from the car: the victory is not due to Imola being more favorable to the RB21.
The result of the updates
The Italian track, it should be noted, was not favorable on paper to the Austrian team. The engineers themselves knew this well. Red Bull, with the updates we had already announced in Japan, took a step forward in terms of downforce, expanding the aerodynamic map. Basically, they did what Ferrari would like to do with the package it will bring to Barcelona in two races.
The changes to the RB21 had direct consequences. Thanks to greater vertical downforce, the RB21 was able to better contain sliding, a condition where the tire tends to overheat significantly. This complicates tire compound management over the long run. Stella then explained why the Austrian car won quite “easily” at Imola.
The work of the tires on the RB21
There are two types of critical temperatures for the performance of each compound. One is surface temperature, and the other is internal temperature, known as the bulk. We discussed this in depth in another article. The MCL39 is very skilled at stabilizing bulk temperature. Hence the clear advantage on tracks with many slow corners where traction is less critical.
In other words, where the rear end is particularly limiting because the inner part of the tires heats up a lot. On a track like Imola, the tire stresses are completely different. On such a circuit, the fundamental action is managing surface temperatures. And here, Red Bull has made a big step forward that will be very useful for the rest of the championship.
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