COPYING MERCEDES… WITH A TOUCH OF ORIGINALITY
Some might argue the new Red Bull has too much of a Mercedes flavour. It is true that the positioning of the steering tie-rods also shares similarities with the world champions’ design. Instead of being level with the upper wishbone, they now sit just above the lower arm we mentioned earlier (compare the blue arrows on the illustration above).
This means there is more space in the upper wishbone section, which has a lower centre of gravity (since the steering rack also is lower). One can also notice the blown wheel hubs are back after being sporadically run last year.
Red Bull has clearly drawn some inspiration from Mercedes, but the hastily designed RB12 is bound to change a great deal before Melbourne
The under-nose ‘bat wing’ can also be connected to a Mercedes design, with the double world champions using a similar device on their cars since 2014. Last year saw Ferrari introduce its own version of the element, which is located in between the turning vanes and channels the airflow towards the lower part of the sidepods. The bat wing also contributes towards generating healthy Y250 vortices.
The RB12 layout is slightly different since the wing leans on a pillar attached to the splitter. This installation replaces the winglets that connected the turning vanes to the ride height sensor on the RB11.
With design genius Adrian Newey scaling back his F1 involvement and Peter Prodromou departing to McLaren in September 2014, has Red Bull become a mere follower of aero concepts when it used to be a trailblazer in that realm? That would be forgetting a bit too quickly the transitional status of the RB12 currently on track in Barcelona, with engineers at the factory in Milton Keynes busily working on its development.
