A ‘HOLE’ LOT MORE FROM RED BULL

Red Bull’s Eifel Grand Prix weekend was a story of holes:

Max Verstappen filled the hole left by the retiring Valtteri Bottas to claim second; Alex Albon’s radiator ended up with a hole in it to prompt an early retirement; while the aerodynamicists added four extra holes to the front wing to boost the front-end performance.

Two tiny outlets (inset) were set into the trailing edge of each front-wing endplate, fed by a large slot within the underside of the wing. This draws air through the construction of the wing and releases it at the point where air is being turned around the front of the wheel. By transferring the airflow from a larger inlet underneath to a smaller outlet, this will accelerate the airflow coming out – as per Bernoulli’s principle. In response, the fluid pressure within will drop.

This seems to be a way of strengthening the airflow released off the top corner of the endplate, which will further assist the outwashing characteristic that t he curvature of the endplates provides. Although the holes are tiny, this is a novel approach to Red Bull’s aerodynamic development, and sidesteps many of the restrictive regulations governing the front wing’s shape and size by using the internal construction.

Red Bull appears to have closed the gap to Mercedes in recent weekends, and this attention to detail appears to be a good starting point in getting back on level terms.