Red bull bending the rules

[SpudLink]

llewop said:

I did double check I wasn't imagining it, so had this to hand

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/fia-forces-red-b...

Autosport said:

It has made it clear that it interprets the rules as defining the cameras being mounted outside of the car.

This is because a drawing of the camera locations in the rules clearly indicates that they should be mounted externally.

I thought I’d highlight a couple of things which are interesting in the context of this thread. RB were forced to change the car, not based on the precise wording, but an interpretation of the rules.

[SpudLink]

Looks like the discussion will get interesting this weekend. There are spots on the wings for video calibration.

[honda_exige]

Interesting video showing Mercedes front wing flex is a lot more than RBR. Hence the expectation that if Merc protest than Horner will immediately protest the Merc front wing.

https://v.redd.it/2caxv2x5j2371

[Exige77]

honda_exige said:

Interesting video showing Mercedes front wing flex is a lot more than RBR. Hence the expectation that if Merc protest than Horner will immediately protest the Merc front wing.

https://v.redd.it/2caxv2x5j2371

Maybe Mercedes have outsourced their front wing development to India or China to save money ?

No, no one would be that stupid would they ?

[CoolHands]

honda_exige said:

Interesting video showing Mercedes front wing flex is a lot more than RBR. Hence the expectation that if Merc protest than Horner will immediately protest the Merc front wing.

https://v.redd.it/2caxv2x5j2371

That looks pretty useless to me.

[honda_exige]

CoolHands said:

That looks pretty useless to me.

Why? It's a part flexing that passes a test but to the letter of the law shouldn't flex, same as the rear wing.

[CoolHands]

You don’t know the relative positions of any of the pieces

[kambites]

honda_exige said:

Interesting video showing Mercedes front wing flex is a lot more than RBR. Hence the expectation that if Merc protest than Horner will immediately protest the Merc front wing.

https://v.redd.it/2caxv2x5j2371

Looks to me as if the cameras are mounted in slightly different places on the two cars with the Mercedes one lower down and closer to the wing, which could account for the visual difference in movement. Either that or Redbull are running MUCH less wing than the Mercedes at that track.

Which is not to say the Merc wing isn't flexing more than the Redbull one. I just don't think that video really provides any evidence either way.

Edited by kambites on Friday 4th June 07:43

[honda_exige]

kambites said:

Looks to me as if the cameras are mounted in slightly different places on the two cars with the Mercedes one lower down and closer to the wing, which could account for the visual difference in movement. Either that or Redbull are running MUCH less wing than the Mercedes at that track.

Which is not to say the Merc wing isn't flexing more than the Redbull one. I just don't think that video really provides any evidence either way.

Edited by kambites on Friday 4th June 07:43

The camera position and height is mandated by the FIA no?

In any case the flex differential is less important than the fact that the Merc wing exhibits significant flex which would give RBR a reason to file a retaliation protest.

[angrymoby]

honda_exige said:

The camera position and height is mandated by the FIA no?

not quite, there is a mandated area they must be placed within

honda_exige said:

In any case the flex differential is less important than the fact that the Merc wing exhibits significant flex which would give RBR a reason to file a retaliation protest.

in retaliation to what? ...seeing as the offending teams seem to brought new wings to Baku

[kambites]

honda_exige said:

The camera position and height is mandated by the FIA no?

No, there's a zone they have to be within but there is a significant amount of variation between teams. Certainly enough to make that angle very misleading without more information on the exact geometry of the wings relative to the camera mount.

ETA: As above it seems that Redbull have redesigned their wing for this race anyway which, assuming the redesign is to make the wing more rigid, makes it a bit of a moot point.

Edited by kambites on Friday 4th June 09:03

[swisstoni]

Are there new tests in place to detect any untoward bendy wings yet?

Edited by swisstoni on Sunday 6th June 21:28

[MadCaptainJack]

Apparently, the new rear wing tests were implemented this past weekend.

Interesting that Red Bull don't appear to have been disadvantaged by being forced to change their wings.

[honda_exige]

MadCaptainJack said:

Apparently, the new rear wing tests were implemented this past weekend.

Interesting that Red Bull don't appear to have been disadvantaged by being forced to change their wings.

Maybe not disadvantaged directly but they'll have had to use some development time that was possibly allocated to next year's car.

[andburg]

also not a track you'd expect a huge benefit, not too many slow corners to need to the huge wing angles. Most of the corners are medium speed so a mid level of downforce.

Baku however is slower in the corners with more straight so running max downforce for the corners and having a low drag car for the long straight is much more beneficial