Thread by @JunaidSamodien_

#AMuS Red Bull has the fastest car on the straights. According to their rivals, this is not only due to an efficient car. Rumor has it that Red Bull can lower its car on the straights. An old trick, but much harder to pull off under the new regulations.

The numbers speak for themselves. On nine of the 17 racetracks, Red Bull was ahead in terms of top speed. Only Williams can reasonably keep up with four best times. But the FW44 also generates the lowest downforce in the field.

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The Red Bull RB18, on the other hand, is also fast in the corners. The measurements refer to the qualification when the cars are normally on the road without a slipstream. In the race, the top speed values ​​are often falsified by who can activate DRS and who cannot.

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Teams that ride at the top don't get that luxury as often as those that are constantly embroiled in position battles further down. In Singapore, on the other hand, Max Verstappen was stuck in traffic for almost the entire race.

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The World Championship leader was promptly the fastest driver in the field at the four top speed measurement points. Sometimes at a great distance.

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He beat Ferrari between 5.5 and 7.9 km/h, Mercedes between 4.8 and 6.7 km/h. And Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton also had DRS for most of the race.

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Sebastian Vettel faced Hamilton and Verstappen at the end of the Grand Prix. He had Hamilton under control. The Mercedes lacked the extra speed to outperform the Aston Martin on the straight. What Hamilton couldn't do in 18 laps, Verstappen did in one.

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"You can't defend yourself against the Red Bull. He drops his tail and flies past you," Vettel apologized. Aston Martin is convinced that the outstanding top speed of the RB18 is not only due to its aerodynamic efficiency.

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"Look at the Red Bull's speed profile on the straights. They only really pick up speed in the second half." Charles Leclerc is also convinced: "It's not just about aerodynamics. There's something mechanical behind it."

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It is curious that Red Bull used to be traditionally weak on the straights. In the past, the team often blamed it on the engine. But since 2021, Red Bull has had a drive unit with the current Honda V6 turbo that is on par with Ferrari and Mercedes.

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Nevertheless, last year Mercedes was the measure of all things on the straights. For half a season, Red Bull puzzled over where the secret of the Silver Arrows lay.

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One of the reasons was the chassis. Mercedes was able to lower the rear so far from a certain speed that there was a stall in the diffuser. Many teams have done that, but none as perfectly as Mercedes.

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Red Bull had to do without this because it was difficult to lower the vehicle height in a controlled manner when the car was positioned so heavily. This problem was eliminated with the ground effect cars. They drive much lower over the ground.

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So the trick is old, but it's much harder to pull off with the current rules. The hydraulic undercarriages are now banned. With conventional dampers and springs, collapsing the landing gear beyond a certain load is more complicated. Red Bull apparently made it anyway.

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Mercedes engineers noticed: "When stationary, the Red Bull has the highest ground clearance at the rear, and the lowest at high speeds."

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The former top speed kings have refrained from taking their old trick into the ground effect era. "To do something like that with a conventional chassis takes up space and weight. We had neither one nor the other."

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Red Bull has wisely invested in this direction and is now getting the reward. While that may have contributed to the car's high weight....

[....] at the start of the season, it's easier to shed weight than retrofit the chassis. And when you lose weight, you automatically get more lap time.

STORY IN GERMAN HERE auto-motor-und-sport.de/formel-1/f1-te…