Does Red Bull Have A Technical Advantage Over The Other Teams?
The Red Bull had been at the top of the charts since the start of the season with their drivers as well as their cars showing a great form. Four out of the initial nine races had been won by its drivers marking two victories for each. To further threaten other teams the team came up with the concept of blown diffuser in their cars, at a time when none of the others had it. However, since their announcement of this technological advancement all the rivals have been working hard to find ways to counter them. Some of the teams had been able to come up with their own versions in Valencia whereas others have announced to introduce same or similar technology in Silverstone next month or shortly after.
Amidst all this battle of technological balance, should Red Bull be threatened to safeguard the advantage that it now possesses or is it yet a very long way before the other teams would be able to match their RB6?
Well, the concept of the blown diffuser, that Red Bull is utilising now, is not new to Formula One. Previously it was being regularly used in the F1 cars between the mid 1980s and mid 1990s. However, due to some of its disadvantages it went out of the race, unless it had been reintroduced by Red Bull once again and now all the other teams are also trying to mimic it.
The basic concept of the system is technically very simple. The air flowing above the car as well as under it gets twisted and turned thus having most of its energy lost in the way. By the time this air reaches the diffuser, it lacks most of its energy. However, it still needs to perform the most important task which is to provide the down force to the car. This force increases the friction between the tyres and the road, increasing the grip of the tyres thus allowing the car to move in high speed even at fast corners.
The diffuser manipulates the energy of the air to enhance the downward force so that it can move in the same fast speed at the tight curves. It actually blows high-energy air from the exhausts in fast speed to re-energise this lazy air.
None the less the blown diffuser offers its disadvantages as well. The exhaust output in such cars is based on the engine throttle therefore the flow of air is very different from the usual cars. Therefore, when the drivers accelerate, the air passing through the exhaust and then the diffuser can speedup to produce too much down-force and so when the speed reduces the down-force van reduce massively.
As this unstable down-force could really be challenging for the driver, therefore a lot of drivers need some time before they can actually master the technology and be able to take full advantage.
Though it can benefit the driver up to 0.5s per lap, but before that the driver needs to get used to the system first.
Vitaly Petrov, of Renault, admitted the fact this weekend at the Valencia track when they used their version of the technique. Also Ferrari, Renault and Mercedes came up with their own versions of the blown diffuser at the European Grand Prix last week, whereas McLaren announced to bring their the next month at Silverstone wanted to have another test session in the straight line before they came out with it.
Hence it is not the system alone that can do wonders rather it is the driving expertise that need to be equally good to handle the system. Moreover, as the Valenica race unfolded, no big miracles had been seen by the system therefore, the Red Bulls could not be considered unbeatable nor could they have any psychological advantage as many of the teams already match their technical potential. So, at the end of the race it is actually the driver that matters the most.
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