F1 teams will be ‘spread out’ in Red Bull’s floor pictures

Formula 1 teams will be posting images “everywhere” of the 2023 Red Bull after lifting the car in Monaco to reveal the ground-effect floor design, Mercedes’ Andrew Shovlin believes.

Sergio Pérez crashed out of qualifying at Sainte-Dévote, and due to the cramped restrictions of the principality’s street circuit, his RB19 was lifted out of the way – allowing the paparazzi to capture the floor.

With the engineers estimating that 60% of the car’s performance is now generated by underbody aerodynamics after the 2022 switch to ground effect rules, the teams have kept this area a closely guarded secret.

The heavily upgraded Mercedes W14 was also revealed after Lewis Hamilton’s crash in FP3.

But Chauvelin, Mercedes’ director of circuit engineering, opined that the Red Bull team, which has won every race so far this season, would be much more upset by the revelations of the work.

Asked by Motorsport.com if Mercedes checked photos of its competitor’s concept, Shovlin said, “I suspect they’re probably more upset about leaving their car in the sky than we are with ours.”

Many were quick to note that when the RB19 was lifted, it stayed much higher than the Mercedes, which leaned toward its rear to indicate a biased weight distribution.

But Shovlin downplayed that, saying, “Years ago, when your weight distribution was anywhere between 48% and 43%, you would pay a little more attention … You could try to figure out where the center of gravity is.

“These days, you have a very narrow window to act according to the regulations anyway.

“Honestly, with these regulations, the most important thing is the thing you normally can’t see.

“So, the teams are going to be all over these kinds of pictures. Monaco is a good opportunity to get that kind of shot.”

Tom McCullough, Aston Martin’s director of performance, added that the plank for Red Bull will provide teams with information on how the car handles bumps.

He said: ‘Obviously there were some great pictures! There were a lot of people there so I’m sure the aerodynamicists will have a good look at all the cars that have been lifted.

“Luckily, we haven’t been raised yet. Let’s try and keep it that way!”

“Aerodynamicists never want you to show it. You learn a lot from just how you plank. You learn from what you touch.

“There are a lot of very excited aerodynamicists up and down the pitlane looking at all of that.”

Dave Robson, Williams’ head of vehicle performance, downplayed the images, saying the light levels made the Red Bull “difficult to copy”.

He said: “It looks very complicated in a two-dimensional image, because of the way light is so bent, you can’t tell anything from it.

“I think it’s just a coincidence. They all do it like this because that’s how they get their downforce, but half of it doesn’t make it hard to imitate!”