The world champion was in a class of his own at Spa-Francorchamps where he was fastest in qualifying and then finished 14th on the grid to dominate the race.
The scale of Red Bull’s advantage in Belgium left rivals at a loss, with the team being somewhat tied up. Ferrari In terms of pure pace throughout most of 2022.
But while Red Bull’s gained theories of introducing a lightweight chassis have been ruled out, the Milton Keynes-based team has pointed out one element that appears to have played particularly well into its hands.
With teams having to run at a higher elevation range in the spa, because the cars can’t go as close to the ground because the pressure in the Eau Rouge risks hitting the floors on the track, it means that some of the RB18’s strengths were overstated.
In particular, it seems that while Ferrari and mercedes Producing more downforce when running as close to the ground as possible, Red Bull can still achieve peak levels when running higher.
This element, allied to his extremely powerful car on straight-line speed, meant Red Bull lost less for a higher run, and was in a different league on the Belgian circuit.
Team principal Christian Horner said: “I think this circuit played a part in our strengths. We have a very efficient car, and we found a very good setup. Max has just been in exceptional shape, since the first lap of P1.”
Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB18, started the sparks
Photography: Mark Sutton / motorsports pictures
“No, we didn’t bring it in. And no we don’t have one… So no, that wasn’t a performance factor,” Horner said in response to rumors before the weekend about Red Bull releasing a lightweight car.
“I think a lot has been achieved and a lot of expectations have been set about that [porpoising] TD, and it probably hurts others more than we hurt ourselves.
“But we haven’t really changed how we run the car. Obviously grounding here has always been an issue because of Eau Rouge. But that’s not unique to us. It’s the same for every team.
“But I think we saw that this year we actually ran a higher altitude. Maybe our philosophy is a little different than some of the others. Maybe we get a TD for the next race. [says] we [have] You should run much less.”
Lightweight Structure
Although Horner rejected the idea of Red Bull offering a lightweight chassis to Spa, he was shy about the possibility of the team working on such a plan.
Red Bull has struggled against minimal weight all season, but has been able to make solid progress to get to a few kilograms from where he wanted to be perfect.
Asked about the possibility of Red Bull bringing a lighter chassis in the next three races – with Singapore selected as a potential launch point for the first time – Horner was very cautious in his words.
“There is no … these structures are going to work for the next few races,” he said.
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