P1racenews AI automatic summary:
Unpicking the secrets of Red Bull’s brave new F1 sidepods
Rival teams have been developing their own versions of the underbite inlet and undercut solution pioneered by Red Bull in recent seasons. However, Red Bull has made a significant change for the RB20, replacing the underbite with an overbite arrangement that includes a high panel extending the sidepod’s upper surface and a generously undercut inlet. The team’s renders and images from Silverstone show a vertical inlet beside the chassis, a departure from the underbite design. This inlet design is similar to Mercedes’ vertical inlet approach from the previous season and Ferrari’s use of a vertical inlet for bypass ductwork rather than cooling. Red Bull’s new hybrid solution combines a wider undercut with a vertical inlet, avoiding the need to excavate the chassis sides like Mercedes did for the zeropod concept. The team’s intense development on the RB19 last season influenced this change, as raising the underbite-style solution higher became limited by dimensional regulations, prompting the shift to a vertical inlet for improved aerodynamics and cooling efficiency. Overall, this new design aims to optimize airflow and pressure behavior in the sidepod region, providing a deeper and wider undercut for enhanced performance on the RB20.
