F1 2024: Bahrain pre season testing (21-23 feb)

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by g21

not sure if these mean anything:

1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) - 1:31.662

2. Lando Norris (McLaren) + 0.822

3. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) + 0.992

4. Daniel Ricciardo (RB) +1.284

5. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) + 1.412

6. Zhou Guanyu (Sauber) + 2.209

7. Logan Sargeant (Williams) + 2.220

8. George Russell (Mercedes) + 2.447

9. Nico Hulkenberg (Haas) + 4.244

10. Pierre Gasly (Alpine) + 4.753

Correction

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

143 laps in total for MAX for today with RUS coming in at 122 and none of the others even in three figures.

Pic from today at Bahrain

[GuidoK]

Wow that RB20 looks totally different from the competition regarding the sidepods/air inlets. (all the other cars are mainly RB19 copies)

There are now basically 3 inlets: the vertical slotted ones (also seen at the reveal), theres a horizontal inlet slot at the front under the sidepod (difficult to see, but they're there), and there are inlets on the front/inside of those bazooka ducts.
Anyone knows which ones lead to cooling radiators? Normally thats the front inlet on the sidepod (because that's usually the only inlet of real size), but with this car...I have no idea.

If it's the vertical ones, it might just be that the sidepods are pretty much empty and that the shape of the sidepod and the airflow inside mainly have an aerodynamic function, and a zeropod design can be really easily made (so the packeaging of the engine/gearbox/cooling is already fit for that.
Of course if the cooling is more to the center of the car instead of inside the sidepods, that increases agility as less mass is off axis.
This is going to be an interesting year regarding car development at RB I think.
It would be very interesting to see if they would come with a zeropod update and make it work....

Even with having lost quite a few top engineers to the competition it looks like RB is aerodynamically still leaps ahead on the competition.
Last year in monaco we saw the underside of the RB and the Williams, and the aerodynamic difference that came to mind with me was:


And I'm getting that vibe again regarding the sidepod/air intakes with most of the field

[G30M]

So the zero sidepods work eh

[a5m]

Originally Posted by g21

So the zero sidepods work eh

When Red Bull does em yea lol

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by g21

So the zero sidepods work eh

The RB20 zero sidepod (upgrade) design is for April 5-7 at Japan (Suzuka)

As you can see !

[TheBingoBalls]

Right now day 1, there’s not much to take away other than what the actual race spec cars will look like, at least for Bahrain. Will likely have a better idea come Friday when both drivers would have been behind the wheel and there’s much more “data” to “analyze” over.

[Fillip]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

Correction

No surprises here to see Max at the top. It will surley be another season where he's going to dominate F1 with his Red Bull car.

[M5Rick]

Here's TacticalRab on today

Look at Wolff @ 6:20
..and GP @ 11:36

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by Fillip

No surprises here to see Max at the top. It will surley be another season where he's going to dominate F1 with his Red Bull car.

Yeah . Even in a second row car in 2021 , MAX beated LEW in his fastest car of the decade with a Merc rocket engine and the party mode.
As I said in 2020/2021 : This is just the beginning ...

MKSixer : It's impossible to beat Mercedes and Lewis with a energy drink maker !

MAX : I'll speak at the track !

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

Here's TacticalRab on today

Look at Wolff @ 6:20
..and GP @ 11:36

Yeah .That's the part of Wolff that I really like to see. LMFAO !

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

Yeah .That's the part of Wolff that I really like to see. LMFAO !

Doesn't he look happy, not.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

Doesn't he look happy, not.

And this ...
This pic has been nominated as snapshot of the day ...
Wolff wants to buy information !

[///M Power-Belgium]

.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

And this ...
This pic has been nominated as snapshot of the day ...
Wolff wants to buy information !

Over 1 bil in the bank and still resorting to gutter tactics to win just one race, what a good example he is to the younger fans

[///M Power-Belgium]

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

...and it's only Day 2 of testing tomorrow.
Wolff and Brown:

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by GuidoK

So are we gonna see a RB car with just a vertical inlet slot?
I can't really understand how that's gonna work with a large sidepod that extends that vertical slot, so I think it's gonna have a 'conventional' air inlet slot at the front of the sidepod.
However, that vertical slot might be a preview of the rumours that RB is gonna race with a zeropod concept in Suzuka.
Or they're just doing this to give Toto some sleepless nights...

It's unlikely that it will race as with zeropod at Suzuka.
https://racingnews365.com/the-trick-...ds-were-hiding

[MoeTE87]

Can't wait for the season to start and Red Bull to dominate again...or shall I say...Max Verstappen to dominate again!

[Killed by Death]

[Straykiwi]

[QUOTE=GuidoK;30922410]If it's the vertical ones, it might just be that the sidepods are pretty much empty and that the shape of the sidepod and the airflow inside mainly have an aerodynamic function, and a zeropod design can be really easily made (so the packeaging of the engine/gearbox/cooling is already fit for that.
Of course if the cooling is more to the center of the car instead of inside the sidepods, that increases agility as less mass is off axis.
/QUOTE]

When I first saw the images of the car the vertical slots remind me of a boundary layer splitter plate seen on supersonic jet fighters like the F-4 Phantom II, F-14 Tomcat and F-15 Eagle. Obviously the car is not intended to drive at supersonic speeds but the aerodynamic problems may well be similar - slow, turbulent air close to the body causing vortexes in faster moving air and consequentially, increased unwanted drag. My guess coming from an aviation context is that that slot vents the air underneath the car in a low pressure area to help smooth the airflow over the sides of the chassis or alternatively they could pass the air over the radiators to create a net thrust via the Meredith Effect to accelerate the airflow further back.

[NickyC]

Looks like another horribly boring year on tap. Early of course, but over a second gap is awful for good racing. Oh well.