Red Bull: Copies of RB19 floor won't show up until Japan

Red Bull reckons it will take until next September's Japanese Grand Prix for the results of its rivals' analysis of the team's RB19's floor to show up on their own cars.

Images of the underside of Red Bull's RB19 – the most defining aero element of its dominant package – were scrutinized in detail by rival teams after Sergio Perez's crash in qualifying at Monaco when the car was lifted and craned off the track at Ste Devote.

Both McLaren and Mercedes admitted that they would not miss an opportunity to investigate Red Bull's unique underbody, but every team on the grid is likely to break down and analyse the element based on the pictures from Monaco.

But according to Red Bull's Head of Car Engineering Paul Monaghan, an "ignorant copy" of the RB19's underside will do little to boost a rival design's.

"It's not great, we don't put our car up [in the air] but it has happened, and we'll move on," Monaghan said."But there is a phase lag between people seeing it, getting it onto their car and actually going faster with it.

"A better description is that an ignorant copy isn't necessarily going to go faster, it has to integrate. It is not just a bit of floor geometry, but it is certainly sensitive on these cars."

• Read also: McLaren praises Red Bull for 'complexity and quality' of RB19 floor

While teams were inadvertently treated to their best view yet of the complexities of the RB19's floor, Monaghan believes Red Bull's rivals were already aware of the element's details.

"Don't forget, people carry floors in and out of garages, lift the front of the cars up, so it is not as if it is the first time," argued Monaghan.

"Our development path is reasonably well laid out in terms of the timings we wish to try to deploy things if they're going to make us go faster.

"If we change someone else's development plan, then we probably increase the phase lag by which they can get it to the car.

"So around about Japan time, we'll see where everybody is, but we've got to maintain our discipline and our development path.

"It's only our car that we can change. We can't influence what those guys do. So, we'll keep plugging away in our own manner and we'll try to be quickest."

Red Bull Racing has established an impressive reign since last season and the beginning of F1's ground effects era, and its technical mastery has obviously left a lasting impact on every outfit's engineering department.

Last year, teams offered their own interpretations of F1's new regulations, but over time everyone has gravitated towards Red Bull's aero philosophy.

Interestingly, this trend is met with acceptance by Monaghan, who acknowledges that even Red Bull themselves have adopted similar strategies in the past, demonstrating the dynamic nature of Formula 1's evolution and the continuous pursuit of excellence.

"It's a form of flattery isn't it?" he said.

"You go back to 2009, 2010, 2011 or even 2014, we were winning races with an overall similar package to what Mercedes had, so we're not immune to doing it.

"Other people will look at our car and try to - if they think they're going to go faster - take influence from it. It's fine.

"Ask McLaren in 2011, they put their car on the ground, and it was not quick, it then appeared with some exhausts that looked just like ours and it was quite quick.

"It's happened for many years, it will carry on and it is a method of levelling the sport, there are no copyrights, are there?

"I'll take it as flattery, which is very nice."

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