RED BULL-RENAULT: GOING FOR A SHORTER, MORE VERTICAL DESIGN
On last year’s RB10 (see bottom picture), the radiator (in blue) and the intercooler (in yellow) were quite cumbersome and had been placed almost horizontally, stretching from the cockpit to the gearbox. This meant that the exhaust manifold (in red) sat just underneath the intercooler, which was not great in terms of temperature. However, the compressed air only had a short distance to travel before reaching the intercooler.
In order to design this year’s RB11, Red Bull engineers have somehow taken inspiration from their Toro Rosso colleagues and followed their 2014 solutions: the radiator and the intercooler have both been diminished. This has helped clear the back of the chassis and place the exhaust pipes behind the intercooler instead of beneath.
