Bull ring fever

The 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship was the most competitive of any since the birth of the hybrid era in 2014. A battle from the outset between Red Bull Racing and Mercedes AMG Formula 1 teams saw the fight to decide the victor rage on until the last few corners of the last lap of the last race of the championship. Two powerhouse cars of the sport, with arguably the biggest difference in Formula 1 car design philosophy throughout the paddock, battling it out at every circuit made 2021 a season to remember.

Here, we look at the Red Bull Racing RB16B and unpick its technical accolades with Red Bull Racing’s chief engineer of car engineering, Paul Monaghan.

Before the gantry lights went out for the first race of the season in 2021, there had been a very short winter development period. After the huge concept changes for the 2022 season chassis were postponed, the FIA implemented a series of rule changes ahead of the 2021 season to reduce cost of development before the ‘new era’ arrives, and as calming measures in response to the ever-increasing downforce the cars deliver.

The cost reduction exercise saw a token system introduced whereby teams could opt to use two tokens to fundamentally change the design of particular elements on the car in certain areas.

As for the performance calming measures, the FIA feared that if development continued with the 2020-spec regulations, it would push car pace beyond safe limits of both the tyres and some tracks, certainly those that have remained unchanged as pace has steadily increased over recent years. The target was to reduce downforce by 10 per cent.

The most significant contributor to the desired aerodynamic load reduction saw a diagonal cut in the cars’ floor ahead of the rear tyres, reducing the floor width at the trailing edge by 100mm on each side, and the banning of any fully enclosed holes in the floor through which airflow could be manipulated, be they slots, holes or aerodynamically-shaped furniture.