Red Bull RB20 upgrades explained with Hungary performance under the microscope

The Hungarian Grand Prix marked the third consecutive race without a victory for a Red Bull driver, a rare occurrence in recent times. It seems the era of Red Bull’s dominance might be waning, as other teams appear to have caught up with the RB20 in terms of performance.

Nevertheless, the Austrian team is still pushing to improve their car, striving to maintain their lead and secure both the Constructors’ and Drivers’ Championships. While the upgrades unveiled in Budapest showed promise, they weren’t as effective as hoped. Let’s delve into the changes Red Bull made and why they remain behind McLaren.

Red Bull RB20 Hungarian GP upgrades explained

In Hungary, Red Bull introduced one of their most significant updates of the season. Beyond the obvious changes in the engine cover geometry, the team also redesigned the front wing and the bodywork around the front and rear wheels. Max Verstappen had the full upgrade package, while Sergio Perez only had part of it (excluding the new engine cover and sidepods).

The most striking change was the absence of the characteristic “shoulders” on the engine cover, which extended from the halo to the rear. These elements directed turbulent air away from the cockpit, separating it from the airflow over the sidepods. This design was highly effective and had been adopted by other teams, but Red Bull, known for their innovative approaches, decided on a different path.

Speculation suggests that this is part of track-specific upgrades, with Red Bull likely to revert to the old engine cover for tracks requiring higher speeds and lower downforce. The new design, however, is better suited for high-downforce circuits like the Hungaroring .

This approach makes sense. On slower tracks, the turbulent air generated behind the cockpit is less problematic compared to high-speed tracks. Therefore, the “shoulders” are less effective in these conditions and do not significantly contribute to overall performance. Red Bull’s engineers have leveraged this by designing a new engine cover that better suits their downforce needs rather than focusing on maximum speed.

The new design is narrower, allowing for a greater mass flow of air to aerodynamic elements like the rear wing, beam wing, and diffuser. These components are crucial for generating downforce, and the engineers’ primary task is to channel as much clean air as possible towards them.

Additionally, the sidepod design has changed, featuring deeper “waterslides” and a higher profile to ensure a more stable airflow to the rear of the car. The waterslide design is highly effective under various conditions for directing airflow.

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How effective were the upgrades?

With Max Verstappen having the complete upgrade package, and Sergio Perez using the older sidepod and engine cover along with other new parts, we can compare their data to gauge the upgrades’ impact.

Unfortunately, Perez’s qualifying session ended prematurely in Q1 after he lost control and crashed, leaving us without valuable data for comparison. However, looking at their fastest laps from FP3, significant differences are evident in certain parts of the track, such as Turns 4 and 11, where Verstappen carried more speed through the corners compared to Perez. Their top speeds, however, were identical at 317 km/h.

This suggests that the new update provided additional stability and downforce in fast corners. It’s important to note that their speeds in slow corners were almost identical, indicating that the difference is primarily due to the increased downforce.

The crucial question remains: is this enough to catch up with McLaren?

Saturday’s qualifying session provided some answers, as McLaren secured a front row lockout, a feat they hadn’t achieved since 2012. The Hungaroring’s characteristics suited them well, making it a tough challenge for Red Bull to compete.

During qualifying, Max was fastest in the first sector, while McLaren drivers made up ground in the second and third sectors. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri excelled in slow corners, with their car’s stability on corner exits and throttle application being remarkable. Meanwhile, Max’s advantage in fast corners was apparent, aided by the improved car.

Comparing the fastest laps from qualifying between Max and Lando, Max gained a significant advantage in the first part of the track, particularly through Turns 3, 4, and 5. However, Lando nullified this lead in Turns 13 and 14, where his later braking and excellent stability gave him the edge.

It will be interesting to see if Red Bull continues to use this upgrade or reverts to the old design to better suit different track characteristics. It’s also fascinating that Red Bull managed to bring these upgrades despite having the least time for aerodynamic simulations and a limited budget.

It appears the engineers have concluded they’ve reached the peak of aerodynamic efficiency and that minor upgrades won’t yield significant gains. Thus, they opted for a more radical approach. Therefore, they decided to implement more substantial changes that would better suit the specific characteristics of certain tracks.

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