Red Bull plots McLaren challenge with new F1 Imola GP updates

Red Bull’s endeavours to chase after Formula 1 championship leader McLaren have continued as the team has introduced a new sidepod package for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

In Miami, the RB21 was equipped with a revised floor, and this is to be paired with a reshaped set of sidepods in Imola; the team has taken a different approach to its inlet arrangement, bringing it slightly more in line with that of McLaren.

Red Bull followed its previous RB20 with its sidepod design by recessing the inlet into the undercut bodywork, where the ‘overbite’ leading edge fully blends into the rest of the sidepod profile.

The team has now partially detached this overbite and has extended the outer tip further beyond the sidepod – the mirror is now attached at this point. The actual sidepod inlet has been set back to fit in line with the additional vertical inlet seen on the sides of the chassis – creating a P-shaped inlet altogether.

Red Bull says this offers “a re-optimisation of the inlet, surrounding geometry and stays to gain overall aerodynamic efficiency”.

The team has also registered a revised fairing for one of its rear suspension members, plus revised wheel bodywork and ducts at the rear corner of the car to further boost the RB21’s aero performance.

McLaren has updates of its own, with new aerodynamic components around the rear corner of the car to offer “improved flow conditioning and overall increase in rear aerodynamic load,” per its pre-event technical notes.

The team has also responded to the demands of the Imola circuit by bringing a higher-downforce rear wing to extract more load at lower speeds, complete with a high-downforce beam wing.

Ferrari has followed suit here, introducing its own higher-downforce track-specific wing at the rear of the car, while also revising its rear brake scoop geometry and winglets – noting that while “geometric changes are small”, it should lead to an uptick in performance.

Mercedes, meanwhile, has focused on the front of the car; it has introduced a new front wing for Imola to rework the flow field conditions in which the rest of the car operates. To match this, the front suspension fairings have been modified, with minor changes to the bodywork’s upper surfaces to improve the flow towards the rear wing.

Amid the midfield battle, Aston Martin, Haas, Alpine, and Racing Bulls have all introduced a variety of new parts.

Aston Martin has registered seven changes to its AMR25 as it hopes to turn around a poor start to the year, with new floor body, edge, and diffuser components in an effort to extract more downforce from the underbody. As a result, the bodywork has also been reformed to suit the new floor.

Haas has also revised its floor, with the purpose of ensuring the VF-25 can operate more consistently at a range of ride heights – as it found the car lost performance at the higher levels needed to contend with bumpier circuits.

As the team explained in its own technical notes, a revised “front floor contraction shape facilitates a cleaner flow delivery to the rear end of the car, resulting in higher energy extraction from the floor and, consequently, enhanced performance.

“The new floor edge works in conjunction with the front floor contraction to ensure a cleaner flow delivery to the rear. The altered incoming flow necessitates a new expansion rate for the diffuser. The updated floor package delivers higher performance across a wide range of ride heights.”

The team has addressed the positioning and shape of winglets and ducts at the rear corner, also giving attention to the suspension fairings to suit this.

Racing Bulls has new bodywork and a new floor, which the team says offers more ‘local’ downforce without changing the flow field conditions underneath too much.

In addition to the new front suspension geometry and brake ducts it registered – but didn’t use – in Miami, Alpine has a new front wing and marginally revised rear bodywork to draw more performance from its A525.