As the event warfare for the second greatest automotive in Formula 1 continues, Ferrari have introduced a Red Bull-inspired beam wing idea to Silverstone which made their prime pace as aggressive as Red Bull themselves.
Their FP2 lengthy runs and quick runs appeared aggressive, and so they clearly emerged because the second greatest group from Friday forward of Mercedes, Aston Martin and McLaren. In reality, it seems like they could have closed the hole to Red Bull greater than anybody anticipated. Don’t take my phrase for it although, let us take a look at some information.
FP2 Data: Race Trim
The lengthy runs assist to gauge the precise efficiency of the automotive, as these runs are usually completed with DRS off. As such, in addition they present a clear baseline as to what the true drag of the automotive is.
There are two primary straights at Silverstone. The first one is the Wellington straight, which relies on your exit from the twisty part in Sector 1, and the second is the Hanger straight after the high-speed chicane Becketts. We will give attention to the Hanger straight, because it offers a greater concept concerning the prime pace because it’s much less exit-dependent.
Comparing the Red Bull and Ferrari information, we are able to clearly see the supremacy of the the championship leaders across the high-speed sections of Copse, Maggots and Becketts – they’re simply in one other league by this part with the gas in the automotive.
However, wanting on the prime pace information for the Hanger straight, we see that each Carlos Sainz Jr. and Max Verstappen clocked 301 km/h on the finish of the straight, indicating a basic drag enchancment of the automotive with DRS off.
FP2 Data: Quali Trim
The quick runs are completed with DRS on in qualifying trim to gauge the stability of the automotive at low gas and to optimise the battery deployment over your entire lap.
If we have a look at the telemetry plots of Sainz and Verstappen, once more we see that each of them have an analogous prime pace of 325 km/h as in comparison with the remainder of the sphere, who have been round 320-322 km/h. Clearly Ferrari have made an enormous step right here as properly.
Top Speed Comparison
From this plot, we are able to clearly see that Red Bull and Ferrari are in a league of their very own on the subject of prime pace. They are ~5 km/h quicker than the remainder of their primary opponents, which is a transparent indication that the beam wing replace is working.
Shubham Sangodkar is a former F1 Aerodynamicist with a Master’s in Racing Car Design specialising in F1 Aerodynamics and F1 Data Analysis. He additionally posts aerodynamics content material on his YouTube channel, which can be found here.