Red Bull unveil the RB5 at Jerez
By Jonathan Noble Monday, February 9th 2009, 08:04 GMT
Red Bull Racing have become the latest team to unveil their 2009 car, with drivers Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber pulling the covers off the RB5 at Jerez in Spain on Monday morning.
The Renault-powered machine is the latest design penned by Adrian Newey, and the team have high hopes that it will be the machine that allows the team to make a step forward this season.
Team principal Christian Horner has no doubts that the team's target is a victory this year - to follow in the footsteps of sister team Scuderia Toro Rosso who won at Monza in 2008.
"2009 will also see us benefit from greater stability in terms of how we run the operation, with all our key players in the technical group having been with us for at least two years," said Horner. "We should not forget they designed a car that won a grand prix in 2008, in the hands of Sebastian Vettel and Scuderia Toro Rosso.
"There is no reason to believe we cannot do that again with these new rules. The regulation changes almost constitute a new formula for the sport and it will be interesting to see how the teams interpret them.
"Certainly in the early part of this season we expect to see a much bigger spread in terms of performance between the teams than we have over the past two years. "
Horner also believed that a raft of cost-cutting measures introduced over the winter would play in to Red Bull Racing's hands.
"Going into 2009, the team is now well placed to take advantage of the rule changes, not just the technical ones that we have known about for some time, but also those established through the efforts of FIA and FOTA last December.
"Red Bull Racing and Red Bull Technology carried no excess weight anyway in terms of manpower, so adjusting to the new rules has, for us, been relatively straight-forward and we are in good shape for the future.
"The changes caused few interruptions to our workflow and they will also assist the larger manufacturer teams in cutting costs, in terms of manpower. Over the past year, we had invested strategically, and therefore, with the rules as they now stand, we are in a good position to capitalise on them, as they present an opportunity for teams to compete on a more level playing field."
The car features a higher and slimmer nose compares to other 2009 cars, and has incorporated bargeboards around the area of the sidepods - as some other teams have done.
As well as featuring Newey's interpretation of the new-for-2009 aerodynamic regulations, the car incorporates an improved Renault power unit - with the French car manufacturer having been allowed to make selected engine improvements over the close-season.
Vettel will be the first man to test the new car today, before Webber gets back in the cockpit on Wednesday for the first time since breaking his leg in a cycling accident at the end of last year.
Red Bull RB5
Started by
alberto.ascari
, Feb 09 2009 15:22
10 replies to this topic
#2
alberto.ascari
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Posted 09 February 2009 - 15:32
Technical analysis of the Red Bull RB5
By Craig Scarborough Monday, February 9th 2009, 10:43 GMT
As the last of the major teams to unveil their car, Red Bull adopted a strategy to keep the design in progress until the last minute. Guided by tech chief Adrian Newey, this may be regarded as a risk, but the added design time has proven itself by the car appearing to be far more developed than most other launched cars.
Not only in the detail, but the whole layout of the car has been tackled in an innovative way. It's possible to say that the RB5 could be regarded as radical, but it's perhaps fairer to say the car throws away the book of contemporary F1 design and instead returns to some features discarded from F1 several years ago.
From the tip, its complex front wing to the tight waisted rear end, the new car employs some independent thinking. It appears that the design team have aimed for minimum cross section throughout the car, emphasising the importance of a good flow over the reduced diffuser and lastly lowered the centre of gravity were possible.
The first sign of innovation starts with the highly complex front wing. Its downforce-producing outer sections only feature a single flap, but this flap is split longitudinally, to only allow a small portion of the flap to move up and down. The area around the movable section is un-adjustable (even manually) and is well blended into the endplate and neutral middle section.
Additionally Red Bull have employed a cascade element above the wing, with the outer span forming two elements via a slot, and the inboard ends still forming an obvious aerofoil section. The endplates are a neat and simple solution which flare out to send flow around the front wheel.
Above all this the nose is high like the Toyota, but Red Bull appear to have a longer nose cone. The joint between the nose cone and monocoque is far more shapely in cross section than other teams, the lower portion tapering to meet the wishbone mounts and the upper section sunken to form bulges along the top corners. As this areas cross section is defined within the rules (300mm wide x 350mm tall) it's not clear if this shaping is outside this template or stretching the smallest possible cross section around it.
Ahead of the sidepods are a turning vane and pod wing, both forming quite large surfaces in comparison to their rivals, while the mirrors remain mounted to separate stalks and not the pod wings. This design of mirror has been introduced repeatedly by Red Bull but the drivers have always preferred the more conventional mounting for a better rear view from the cockpit. It will be interesting to see if they remain there after testing commences.
The rest of the monocoque's external features are similar to the McLaren. The steering arm now sits in between the upper and lower wishbones: this places the element lower in the airflow, and therefore closer to the lower front wing in order to have some conditioning effect on its wake.
The lower positioning probably also aids the car's centre of gravity. Again the sidepod inlets are wider and high as per the McLaren in 2008 - although this shape is less effective for cooling it works better for sending flow around the car. Equally the roll structure follows McLaren's 2008/9 practice of forming the lifting eye with two vertical supports to the inlet snorkel. But Newey hasn't followed the McLaren fins that sit behind these supports, suggesting the snorkel isn't as undercut as the McLaren.
A striking feature is the small size of the sidepods: these taper down and inwards far more than other cars, and neither are they undercut, instead flaring outwards at their base. Their small size appears to be largely as a result of Red Bull finding different places for cooling outlets, there being two removable panels each side of the engine cover to vent hot air, one being high up near the pointed section of the engine cover and the other being in the unpainted section of bodywork above the exhaust outlet.
These are rendition to the normal exit at the end of the coke bottle shape, which is correspondingly much smaller in order to send more flow over the diffuser and beam wing. The aim seems to be the overriding philosophy for the tail of the RB5, the conventional shape of this area and the mechanical parts it contains has been discarded in favour of far more innovative ideas.
For example, the rear dampers are now mounted to the side of the gearbox and operated by pull rod suspension (rather than push rod): the pull rod can be seen leading downwards from the wheel to an area between the engine and gearbox. This lower the car's centre of gravity and clears the top of the gearbox from obstructing the beam wing.
Equally, the beam wing is now fully exposed, by lowering the rear crash structure, which points aggressively upwards from the rear of the gearbox. No doubt this will also form a complex diffuser extension as we have seen on the Toyota. The beam wing is also augmented by the clever shape of the upper wishbone, this now sits fully exposed above the gearbox. In doing this it forms a legal winglet, improving the flow towards the beam wing.
More conventional is the upper rear end in the upper parts of its endplates, but lower down. Newey has taken the wording of the rules literally and extended the endplates right down to the diffuser. Williams sported similar, but smaller, extensions to their rear wing.
Red Bull continue to be powered by the Renault engine. This year Renault were given dispensation to redesign elements of their engine to give it parity to its rivals in power output. In addition to this redesign, Renault have had to re-tune the engine to the new 18,000rpm limit.
With the short notice of the RPM drop, Renault engine man Rob White felt there was not a particular cooling benefit for the engine. Thus the aerodynamic work on the car's tiny sidepods is all the more impressive. In addition to the engine, Red Bull will also use Renaults KERS system, with an electrical system developed in association with Magneti Marelli on the electronics side and Saft providing the batteries.
By Craig Scarborough Monday, February 9th 2009, 10:43 GMT
As the last of the major teams to unveil their car, Red Bull adopted a strategy to keep the design in progress until the last minute. Guided by tech chief Adrian Newey, this may be regarded as a risk, but the added design time has proven itself by the car appearing to be far more developed than most other launched cars.
Not only in the detail, but the whole layout of the car has been tackled in an innovative way. It's possible to say that the RB5 could be regarded as radical, but it's perhaps fairer to say the car throws away the book of contemporary F1 design and instead returns to some features discarded from F1 several years ago.
From the tip, its complex front wing to the tight waisted rear end, the new car employs some independent thinking. It appears that the design team have aimed for minimum cross section throughout the car, emphasising the importance of a good flow over the reduced diffuser and lastly lowered the centre of gravity were possible.
The first sign of innovation starts with the highly complex front wing. Its downforce-producing outer sections only feature a single flap, but this flap is split longitudinally, to only allow a small portion of the flap to move up and down. The area around the movable section is un-adjustable (even manually) and is well blended into the endplate and neutral middle section.
Additionally Red Bull have employed a cascade element above the wing, with the outer span forming two elements via a slot, and the inboard ends still forming an obvious aerofoil section. The endplates are a neat and simple solution which flare out to send flow around the front wheel.
Above all this the nose is high like the Toyota, but Red Bull appear to have a longer nose cone. The joint between the nose cone and monocoque is far more shapely in cross section than other teams, the lower portion tapering to meet the wishbone mounts and the upper section sunken to form bulges along the top corners. As this areas cross section is defined within the rules (300mm wide x 350mm tall) it's not clear if this shaping is outside this template or stretching the smallest possible cross section around it.
Ahead of the sidepods are a turning vane and pod wing, both forming quite large surfaces in comparison to their rivals, while the mirrors remain mounted to separate stalks and not the pod wings. This design of mirror has been introduced repeatedly by Red Bull but the drivers have always preferred the more conventional mounting for a better rear view from the cockpit. It will be interesting to see if they remain there after testing commences.
The rest of the monocoque's external features are similar to the McLaren. The steering arm now sits in between the upper and lower wishbones: this places the element lower in the airflow, and therefore closer to the lower front wing in order to have some conditioning effect on its wake.
The lower positioning probably also aids the car's centre of gravity. Again the sidepod inlets are wider and high as per the McLaren in 2008 - although this shape is less effective for cooling it works better for sending flow around the car. Equally the roll structure follows McLaren's 2008/9 practice of forming the lifting eye with two vertical supports to the inlet snorkel. But Newey hasn't followed the McLaren fins that sit behind these supports, suggesting the snorkel isn't as undercut as the McLaren.
A striking feature is the small size of the sidepods: these taper down and inwards far more than other cars, and neither are they undercut, instead flaring outwards at their base. Their small size appears to be largely as a result of Red Bull finding different places for cooling outlets, there being two removable panels each side of the engine cover to vent hot air, one being high up near the pointed section of the engine cover and the other being in the unpainted section of bodywork above the exhaust outlet.
These are rendition to the normal exit at the end of the coke bottle shape, which is correspondingly much smaller in order to send more flow over the diffuser and beam wing. The aim seems to be the overriding philosophy for the tail of the RB5, the conventional shape of this area and the mechanical parts it contains has been discarded in favour of far more innovative ideas.
For example, the rear dampers are now mounted to the side of the gearbox and operated by pull rod suspension (rather than push rod): the pull rod can be seen leading downwards from the wheel to an area between the engine and gearbox. This lower the car's centre of gravity and clears the top of the gearbox from obstructing the beam wing.
Equally, the beam wing is now fully exposed, by lowering the rear crash structure, which points aggressively upwards from the rear of the gearbox. No doubt this will also form a complex diffuser extension as we have seen on the Toyota. The beam wing is also augmented by the clever shape of the upper wishbone, this now sits fully exposed above the gearbox. In doing this it forms a legal winglet, improving the flow towards the beam wing.
More conventional is the upper rear end in the upper parts of its endplates, but lower down. Newey has taken the wording of the rules literally and extended the endplates right down to the diffuser. Williams sported similar, but smaller, extensions to their rear wing.
Red Bull continue to be powered by the Renault engine. This year Renault were given dispensation to redesign elements of their engine to give it parity to its rivals in power output. In addition to this redesign, Renault have had to re-tune the engine to the new 18,000rpm limit.
With the short notice of the RPM drop, Renault engine man Rob White felt there was not a particular cooling benefit for the engine. Thus the aerodynamic work on the car's tiny sidepods is all the more impressive. In addition to the engine, Red Bull will also use Renaults KERS system, with an electrical system developed in association with Magneti Marelli on the electronics side and Saft providing the batteries.
#3
alpiner
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Posted 09 February 2009 - 16:26
Genijalac je napravio lepoticu.
Newey says RB5 an aggressive design
By Edd Straw and Pablo Elizalde Monday, February 9th 2009, 13:05 GMT
Red Bull Racing's technical chief Adrian Newey says the team have opted for an aggressive approach for their new RB5.
"It is quite an aggressive design," Newey said when asked about the car by autosport.com during its launch at Jerez.
"It's a design that is quite different to anything that has gone before. Hopefully for good engineering reasons.
"One of the things is having the discipline to have ideas but making sure that they really do give something rather than simply being different."
The Milton Keynes-based squad became the seventh Formula One team to unveil their 2009 challenger on Monday, nearly a month after the first of their rivals launched their car.
Newey said the late launch was not an advantage over the other teams, because there has not been enough time to re-design parts of the car.
He is hopeful, however, that the longer time used to design it will pay off.
"Not relative to our rivals," Newey said when asked if the late launch was an advantage. "We looked at the photos of our rivals but we haven't had time to study any of the routes that we've taken because we've been too flat out pursuing our own routes.
"This has obviously given us a little bit longer in design to design things and to try and make up for the fact that we are a somewhat smaller team.
"We certainly run a lot less wind tunnel than other people which has come out recently with some of the discussion on wind tunnel limitations so we've tried to use the time to some extent to make up for slightly smaller resources."
Newey admitted he had enjoyed being able to start a design from scratch thanks to the radical regulation changes coming into play this year.
"I enjoy having big regulation changes," he said. "It gives you much more of a chance for a clean sheet of paper rather than small evolutions of established things.
"Whether it plays to Red Bull or not is difficult to say. You can argue it two ways. You can say it opens up a few good ideas that can give a benefit, or you can say it plays to the teams with the biggest resources."
Newey: Only a few teams will win in '09
By Jonathan Noble Monday, February 9th 2009, 08:26 GMT
Red Bull Racing's chief technical officer Adrian Newey believes that Formula One should expect only one or two different teams to win races this year because of the new regulations.
Although a major aerodynamic revamp has taken place in a bid to increase overtaking, Newey is convinced that one of the biggest consequences of such a major change will be that the field is more spread out than it has been in recent years.
Speaking about whether the new rules will help boost overtaking, Newey said: "A bit more, but not a huge amount as people overlook the fact that circuit layout is the most important factor for generating passing moves.
"Last year the entire field was very close, with a very tight grid and five different chassis manufacturers winning races. A major rule change is likely to have the opposite effect, just one or two teams get it right and do all the winning."
Newey says his new RB5 car has been penned from scratch because of the regulation changes - which not only changes aerodynamics but has also forced a weight distribution shift.
"2009 arguably sees the biggest rule change since flat bottoms were introduced in 1983, a very major change," he explained. "We have taken a clean sheet, blue-sky approach, looking at the implications of these rules and how to interpret them, while not changing things simply for the sake of it. Apart from the gearbox internals, there is hardly any carry-over from RB4."
He added: "The main area of change with going back to slick tyres was in terms of weight distribution, as it will put greater strain on the rear tyres, so at the design stage, we moved the weight distribution forward a bit."
Newey confirmed that the car does carry KERS - with it being situated in the base of the fuel tank for performance reasons.
"We use a battery storage system, which is heavy and therefore affects weight distribution on the car. After everything is packaged in the usual manner, driver, fuel cell, engine, gearbox, you then have to find somewhere for KERS, while maintaining fuel tank capacity and achieving the weight distribution target. RB5 carries its KERS in the base of the fuel tank."
Newey says RB5 an aggressive design
By Edd Straw and Pablo Elizalde Monday, February 9th 2009, 13:05 GMT
Red Bull Racing's technical chief Adrian Newey says the team have opted for an aggressive approach for their new RB5.
"It is quite an aggressive design," Newey said when asked about the car by autosport.com during its launch at Jerez.
"It's a design that is quite different to anything that has gone before. Hopefully for good engineering reasons.
"One of the things is having the discipline to have ideas but making sure that they really do give something rather than simply being different."
The Milton Keynes-based squad became the seventh Formula One team to unveil their 2009 challenger on Monday, nearly a month after the first of their rivals launched their car.
Newey said the late launch was not an advantage over the other teams, because there has not been enough time to re-design parts of the car.
He is hopeful, however, that the longer time used to design it will pay off.
"Not relative to our rivals," Newey said when asked if the late launch was an advantage. "We looked at the photos of our rivals but we haven't had time to study any of the routes that we've taken because we've been too flat out pursuing our own routes.
"This has obviously given us a little bit longer in design to design things and to try and make up for the fact that we are a somewhat smaller team.
"We certainly run a lot less wind tunnel than other people which has come out recently with some of the discussion on wind tunnel limitations so we've tried to use the time to some extent to make up for slightly smaller resources."
Newey admitted he had enjoyed being able to start a design from scratch thanks to the radical regulation changes coming into play this year.
"I enjoy having big regulation changes," he said. "It gives you much more of a chance for a clean sheet of paper rather than small evolutions of established things.
"Whether it plays to Red Bull or not is difficult to say. You can argue it two ways. You can say it opens up a few good ideas that can give a benefit, or you can say it plays to the teams with the biggest resources."
Newey: Only a few teams will win in '09
By Jonathan Noble Monday, February 9th 2009, 08:26 GMT
Red Bull Racing's chief technical officer Adrian Newey believes that Formula One should expect only one or two different teams to win races this year because of the new regulations.
Although a major aerodynamic revamp has taken place in a bid to increase overtaking, Newey is convinced that one of the biggest consequences of such a major change will be that the field is more spread out than it has been in recent years.
Speaking about whether the new rules will help boost overtaking, Newey said: "A bit more, but not a huge amount as people overlook the fact that circuit layout is the most important factor for generating passing moves.
"Last year the entire field was very close, with a very tight grid and five different chassis manufacturers winning races. A major rule change is likely to have the opposite effect, just one or two teams get it right and do all the winning."
Newey says his new RB5 car has been penned from scratch because of the regulation changes - which not only changes aerodynamics but has also forced a weight distribution shift.
"2009 arguably sees the biggest rule change since flat bottoms were introduced in 1983, a very major change," he explained. "We have taken a clean sheet, blue-sky approach, looking at the implications of these rules and how to interpret them, while not changing things simply for the sake of it. Apart from the gearbox internals, there is hardly any carry-over from RB4."
He added: "The main area of change with going back to slick tyres was in terms of weight distribution, as it will put greater strain on the rear tyres, so at the design stage, we moved the weight distribution forward a bit."
Newey confirmed that the car does carry KERS - with it being situated in the base of the fuel tank for performance reasons.
"We use a battery storage system, which is heavy and therefore affects weight distribution on the car. After everything is packaged in the usual manner, driver, fuel cell, engine, gearbox, you then have to find somewhere for KERS, while maintaining fuel tank capacity and achieving the weight distribution target. RB5 carries its KERS in the base of the fuel tank."
Edited by alpiner, 09 February 2009 - 16:37.
#4
alpiner
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Posted 09 February 2009 - 16:39
Interesantno
Edited by alpiner, 09 February 2009 - 16:52.
#6
Downforce
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- Members
- 4,995 posts
Posted 09 February 2009 - 17:58
Novi Red Bull RB5!!!
http://premium.f1-li...l/diapo_101.jpg
http://premium.f1-li...l/diapo_102.jpg
http://premium.f1-li...l/diapo_103.jpg
Do sada ubedljivo najmrsavije odradjen zadnji kraj, a sve ukomponovano sa malim bocnim usisnicima. Visoko postavljen nos bolida, sa nekakvim "ivicama" na nosu koje formiraju kanal - jos uvek nisam siguran sta je Newey hteo da postigne sa tim. Nisko postavljen izduv motora, mozda cak i malo preoptimisticno s obzirom na to da je gornja vodjica preblizu izduvnim gasovima. Eksperiment sa ciljem da izduvni gasovi struje preko difuzora i dodatno izvlace vazduh ispod bolida. Lepo vidljivo na ovoj slici:
Takodje je spona upravljaca odvojena od gornje vodjice, nesto slicno poput McLarena, samo malo elegantnije odradjeno. Ideja je ocigledno ista...
http://premium.f1-li...l/diapo_160.jpg
Prednje krilo se sastoji od dva elementa, iako dodatni prorez u osnovnom krilu stvara iluziju da su u pitanju tri elementa. Gornji deo je pokretan i to ne celom sirinom, vec samo delimicno. Tu je i dodatno horizontalno krilce, poput Ferrarijevog, ali znatno komplikovanije odradjeno. Pogledati ove slike:
http://premium.f1-li...l/diapo_163.jpg
http://premium.f1-li...l/diapo_164.jpg
Tu su i bocni deflektori, ne u fazonu Ferrarijevih "nosaca retrovizora"ali koriste rupu u pravilima maksimalno...
Btw, probna voznja se zavrsila ovako:
Ne znam sta je bilo u pitanju...
Uglavnom, aerodinamicki odlicno uradjen bolid. Mozda se RBu isplati ovaj malo rizicniji (ekstremniji) dizajn.
p.s. Alpineru, ona stvarcica koja ti je interesantna je senzor za merenje ugla klizanja pneumatika. Ferrari ga je imao jos pretprosle sezone.
Vise o ovom senzoru procitaj ovde.
http://premium.f1-li...l/diapo_101.jpg
http://premium.f1-li...l/diapo_102.jpg
http://premium.f1-li...l/diapo_103.jpg
Do sada ubedljivo najmrsavije odradjen zadnji kraj, a sve ukomponovano sa malim bocnim usisnicima. Visoko postavljen nos bolida, sa nekakvim "ivicama" na nosu koje formiraju kanal - jos uvek nisam siguran sta je Newey hteo da postigne sa tim. Nisko postavljen izduv motora, mozda cak i malo preoptimisticno s obzirom na to da je gornja vodjica preblizu izduvnim gasovima. Eksperiment sa ciljem da izduvni gasovi struje preko difuzora i dodatno izvlace vazduh ispod bolida. Lepo vidljivo na ovoj slici:
Takodje je spona upravljaca odvojena od gornje vodjice, nesto slicno poput McLarena, samo malo elegantnije odradjeno. Ideja je ocigledno ista...
http://premium.f1-li...l/diapo_160.jpg
Prednje krilo se sastoji od dva elementa, iako dodatni prorez u osnovnom krilu stvara iluziju da su u pitanju tri elementa. Gornji deo je pokretan i to ne celom sirinom, vec samo delimicno. Tu je i dodatno horizontalno krilce, poput Ferrarijevog, ali znatno komplikovanije odradjeno. Pogledati ove slike:
http://premium.f1-li...l/diapo_163.jpg
http://premium.f1-li...l/diapo_164.jpg
Tu su i bocni deflektori, ne u fazonu Ferrarijevih "nosaca retrovizora"ali koriste rupu u pravilima maksimalno...
Btw, probna voznja se zavrsila ovako:
Ne znam sta je bilo u pitanju...
Uglavnom, aerodinamicki odlicno uradjen bolid. Mozda se RBu isplati ovaj malo rizicniji (ekstremniji) dizajn.
p.s. Alpineru, ona stvarcica koja ti je interesantna je senzor za merenje ugla klizanja pneumatika. Ferrari ga je imao jos pretprosle sezone.
Vise o ovom senzoru procitaj ovde.
#7
alpiner
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- Members
- 11,330 posts
Posted 09 February 2009 - 18:47
Btw, probna voznja se zavrsila ovako:
Ne znam sta je bilo u pitanju...
p.s. Alpineru, ona stvarcica koja ti je interesantna je senzor za merenje ugla klizanja pneumatika. Ferrari ga je imao jos pretprosle sezone.
Vise o ovom senzoru procitaj ovde.
Problemi sa menjačem.
Znam za te senzore samo mi je čudno da je postavljen i na bolidu sa studijskih fotografija.
#8
Uzice
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- Members
- 1,741 posts
Posted 10 February 2009 - 12:25
A najlepse mi je sto nije komplet ofarban pa se vide CarbonFibre vlakna sa kojim pocinjem da radim ovih dana.
#9
alpiner
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- Members
- 11,330 posts
Posted 10 February 2009 - 13:29
A najlepse mi je sto nije komplet ofarban pa se vide CarbonFibre vlakna sa kojim pocinjem da radim ovih dana.
Šta radiš?
#10
Uzice
-
- Members
- 1,741 posts
Posted 11 February 2009 - 12:11
Za pocetak kofer za laptop a kasnije ko zna sta sve...
#11
alpiner
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- Members
- 11,330 posts
Posted 13 February 2009 - 18:19
Why Red Bull's RB5 gamble may pay off
Friday, 13 February 2009 00:00
Red Bull’s RB5 was tipped to be the best-looking of the 2009 cars and Adrian Newey’s latest creation didn’t disappoint when it was unveiled at Jerez on Monday – revealing swooping curves and intricate detailing in place of the angular, slab-like appearance of some rival cars.
ITV.com/F1 columnist Mark Hughes was suitably impressed with the car’s aesthetics, and excited by the bold design philosophy behind it.
In his latest feature he highlights some of the most striking features of the RB5 and explains what the Newey-led design team has tried to achieve. Make no mistake, this car is a gamble – but one that could just propel Red Bull into the big time…
All-new F1 technical regulations for this season mean there is more variation in the designs of the cars than for many years. But the most distinctive of all the seven cars launched so far is undoubtedly the Red Bull RB5.
Aero genius Adrian Newey has left his signature all over its sweeping curves but it’s more than just that: the Newey-led design team has pushed the boundaries of the new regs further than any other team so far and the car features more fundamental reappraisals than any of its rivals – from its controversial V-section front to its pullrod rear suspension.
The radical shake-up of the aero regs, together with the introduction of slick tyres, has created the opportunity for a mid-sized team like Red Bull to possibly leapfrog ahead of better-funded opposition, in a way that would have been impossible had the rules remained static.
Everything about the RB5 suggests that Newey has been more than aware of this and has seized upon his chance.
Of all the 2009 machines, the RB5 is the most extreme in its striving for aerodynamic efficiency – ie the most efficient combination of high downforce and low drag.
It appears to have the smallest cross section frontal area of any of the cars, with its slim narrow nose V-shaped in section.
The front wing has a more complex, intricate arrangement of flaps on its outer extremities than any of its rivals and the endplates are notably narrow, leaving more of the allowed width for the wing flaps.
The depression cut out of the top of the nose and into the regulation-defined chassis front is designed to prevent the airflow from spilling over the top of the bodywork, channelling it more efficiently over the top of the extremely contoured sidepods and reducing the interference with the lower body flow to the Ferrari-like vertical turning vane just ahead of the sidepods.
In profile, those sidepods drop away very aggressively.
The idea of this is to accelerate the speed of the airflow as it travels along that surface, which in turn leads to the upper surface of the diffuser.
The faster the air flows over there, the more it scavenges the air coming through the diffuser, thereby enhancing downforce.
The car is long in its wheelbase, this creating more space for the KERS batteries whilst keeping the width of the central section to a minimum – for the lowest possible frontal area and drag.
There’s a conflict there in that the longer wheelbase means (other things being equal) a more rearwards weight distribution whereas it is expected that the new slick tyres will demand a more forward weight distribution than the ’08 cars had.
But there’s compromise to be drawn in virtually every design decision of an F1 car and this is clearly where Newey’s team feel the optimum solution lies.
The most radical aspect of the car is its pullrod rear suspension.
Every other F1 car has pushrod rear suspension and has had for the last couple of decades.
But Newey has reasoned that with upper body downforce so reduced – and the underbody downforce enhanced – by the new regulations, the point of compromise has changed.
The pullrod layout allows the rocker that operates the spring to be sited much lower and there are none of the lumps and bumps in the bodywork seen on other cars needed to clear the upper rockers of the conventional pushrod layout.
It has led to an incredibly tightly packaged rear end, leaving a massive space to channel airflow to the rear beam wing.
The regulation rearward shift of the diffuser has created the room to do this, though the siting of lower rockers will have compromised the shape of the diffuser.
An additional benefit of the pullrod layout is its lower centre of gravity.
As a final flourish Newey has melded the bottom of the rear wing endplates into the edges of the diffuser, making a seal and giving a cleaner flow to the lower beam wing.
It’s a beautiful-looking machine, leapfrogging ahead of the McLaren as the most aesthetically pleasing of the ’09 generation.
If it goes as well as it looks – and the early testing signs are very encouraging – and begins the season with a performance advantage, it could well retain it for the remainder of the year.
That’s because the things that distinguish it from its rivals are not features that could be simply added on to another design, but would require a completely new car.
On the other hand, there is no guarantee that those different points of compromise chosen by Newey and his team will turn out to be the right ones.
The design bears certain hallmarks of a Newey ‘hunch’.
Which is what, ahead of the season, makes it the most exciting of all the ’09 contenders.
ITV
Friday, 13 February 2009 00:00
Red Bull’s RB5 was tipped to be the best-looking of the 2009 cars and Adrian Newey’s latest creation didn’t disappoint when it was unveiled at Jerez on Monday – revealing swooping curves and intricate detailing in place of the angular, slab-like appearance of some rival cars.
ITV.com/F1 columnist Mark Hughes was suitably impressed with the car’s aesthetics, and excited by the bold design philosophy behind it.
In his latest feature he highlights some of the most striking features of the RB5 and explains what the Newey-led design team has tried to achieve. Make no mistake, this car is a gamble – but one that could just propel Red Bull into the big time…
All-new F1 technical regulations for this season mean there is more variation in the designs of the cars than for many years. But the most distinctive of all the seven cars launched so far is undoubtedly the Red Bull RB5.
Aero genius Adrian Newey has left his signature all over its sweeping curves but it’s more than just that: the Newey-led design team has pushed the boundaries of the new regs further than any other team so far and the car features more fundamental reappraisals than any of its rivals – from its controversial V-section front to its pullrod rear suspension.
The radical shake-up of the aero regs, together with the introduction of slick tyres, has created the opportunity for a mid-sized team like Red Bull to possibly leapfrog ahead of better-funded opposition, in a way that would have been impossible had the rules remained static.
Everything about the RB5 suggests that Newey has been more than aware of this and has seized upon his chance.
Of all the 2009 machines, the RB5 is the most extreme in its striving for aerodynamic efficiency – ie the most efficient combination of high downforce and low drag.
It appears to have the smallest cross section frontal area of any of the cars, with its slim narrow nose V-shaped in section.
The front wing has a more complex, intricate arrangement of flaps on its outer extremities than any of its rivals and the endplates are notably narrow, leaving more of the allowed width for the wing flaps.
The depression cut out of the top of the nose and into the regulation-defined chassis front is designed to prevent the airflow from spilling over the top of the bodywork, channelling it more efficiently over the top of the extremely contoured sidepods and reducing the interference with the lower body flow to the Ferrari-like vertical turning vane just ahead of the sidepods.
In profile, those sidepods drop away very aggressively.
The idea of this is to accelerate the speed of the airflow as it travels along that surface, which in turn leads to the upper surface of the diffuser.
The faster the air flows over there, the more it scavenges the air coming through the diffuser, thereby enhancing downforce.
The car is long in its wheelbase, this creating more space for the KERS batteries whilst keeping the width of the central section to a minimum – for the lowest possible frontal area and drag.
There’s a conflict there in that the longer wheelbase means (other things being equal) a more rearwards weight distribution whereas it is expected that the new slick tyres will demand a more forward weight distribution than the ’08 cars had.
But there’s compromise to be drawn in virtually every design decision of an F1 car and this is clearly where Newey’s team feel the optimum solution lies.
The most radical aspect of the car is its pullrod rear suspension.
Every other F1 car has pushrod rear suspension and has had for the last couple of decades.
But Newey has reasoned that with upper body downforce so reduced – and the underbody downforce enhanced – by the new regulations, the point of compromise has changed.
The pullrod layout allows the rocker that operates the spring to be sited much lower and there are none of the lumps and bumps in the bodywork seen on other cars needed to clear the upper rockers of the conventional pushrod layout.
It has led to an incredibly tightly packaged rear end, leaving a massive space to channel airflow to the rear beam wing.
The regulation rearward shift of the diffuser has created the room to do this, though the siting of lower rockers will have compromised the shape of the diffuser.
An additional benefit of the pullrod layout is its lower centre of gravity.
As a final flourish Newey has melded the bottom of the rear wing endplates into the edges of the diffuser, making a seal and giving a cleaner flow to the lower beam wing.
It’s a beautiful-looking machine, leapfrogging ahead of the McLaren as the most aesthetically pleasing of the ’09 generation.
If it goes as well as it looks – and the early testing signs are very encouraging – and begins the season with a performance advantage, it could well retain it for the remainder of the year.
That’s because the things that distinguish it from its rivals are not features that could be simply added on to another design, but would require a completely new car.
On the other hand, there is no guarantee that those different points of compromise chosen by Newey and his team will turn out to be the right ones.
The design bears certain hallmarks of a Newey ‘hunch’.
Which is what, ahead of the season, makes it the most exciting of all the ’09 contenders.
ITV
