Red Bull introduces final-day developments
At Barcelona, Red Bull’s sidepod concept was finally unveiled after a ‘secretive’ launch of its RB18, featuring a distinct undercut burrowing underneath the front inlet to yield more open floor space on top of the entry port.
Red Bull was once again reticent to show off its developments for the second round of testing, but revealed a new sidepod package on the final day of Bahrain’s pre-season event, introducing a more pronounced undercut and also adding a small channel over the top of the sidepod area to help channel airflow downwards at an earlier point. The team has also stuck with the line of gills that it trialled in Barcelona testing, increasing the level of internal cooling on offer.
Across the test, Red Bull also experimented with a range of front wings with different upper flap profiles, looking to get a glimpse of how their designs affect the airflow further down the car and home in on which design will work best for the opening race. On the final day, the team also seemed to find something a little extra over the other teams with the ride of the RB18, finding enough compliance to give Max Verstappen a final surge up the times at the close of the test. Plus ça change.
But as ever, testing is one big charade. Red Bull looked keen to send Verstappen out on some hot laps at the end of the final day, but is the Milton Keynes squad simply doing a better job than the others, or did its rival teams elect not to join in with the hot laps right at the end?
Thankfully, nobody needs to wait very long to view the true picture.