British GP - Technical Talk: Are Red Bull ahead?
Eurosport - Thu, 25 Jun 14:32:00 2009
The Brawn cars were firmly beaten by Red Bull in last weekend's British Grand Prix - but are they as far ahead as their Silverstone race pace suggests?
German Sebastien Vettel (pictured) raced away to an unflustered victory on Sunday, running one second a lap faster than second-placed Rubens Barrichello on the opening stint then protecting his lead with ease for the rest of the race against frustrated team-mate Mark Webber.
Red Bull benefited from what was virtually a 'b'-spec car with a new rear wing endplate and a dramatically different front nose making the noticeable visual impact - but their new floor and overall vehicle layout, which saw the rear axles pushed rearwards to provide a greater space for the double rear diffuser, was perhaps even more influential.
The new modifications certainly increased the pace of the car and although the Q2 times from qualifying show that Rubens Barrichello's Brawn and Jarno Trulli's Toyota were both within a 10th or two of the fastest time from the Red Bulls, come race day the Red Bulls were in a league of their own.
The true performance differential between Red Bull and Brawn, however, is actually much smaller than it appeared at Silverstone - because two unique factors specific to that race combined to increase the gap much more than the &lsquonormal running' pace likely to be seen in future races.
The Brawn has been famously kind on its tyres since the start of the season - but in this race that proved to be its downfall.
Firstly, the temperatures were the coldest yet for a dry race this season and with low temperatures it is much harder to get the tyres to warm up to their optimum operating temperature.
That was proved by the Brawn's lack of pace in the first and second stints and only on the final stint did they get anywhere close to the lap times the Red Bulls had been consistently setting all race - but that was when the Brawns were on the soft tyres and the Red Bulls were on hards.
The second factor is the nature of the track, with Silverstone's fast-flowing layout highlighting the superior high speed aero balance of the Red Bull cars - which enabled them to go faster through the high speed corners and take that extra speed advantage all the way down the following straight - and, perhaps more significant, the lack of braking that had a major effect on the way the Brawns tyres failed to perform.
Normally, heavy braking will heat up the brake disks inside the wheels and that heat will work its way through the rims and into the tyres. But with a limited amount of braking around a lap of Silverstone, there was less braking energy available to heat the tyres, making it doubly difficult for the Brawn drivers to get them up to temperature.
So while Brawn are now looking back on last weekend's race with some concern, they can at least breathe a sigh of relief that the kind of circuit and the levels of temperature seen at Silverstone are unlikely to be repeated in many other places this year.
Award-winning sports journalist Will Gray has worked in and around Formula One for more than a decade, providing detailed technical insight as well as live news reports and features for newspapers such as the Daily Telegraph and Daily Star, AFP and Reuters news agencies and a variety of magazines. He has also worked as an F1 expert on TalkSPORT and Irish radio.
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Comment 21 - 40 of 60
The reason Red Bull won so convincingly is the new downforce filter system...the cars have been fitted with wings!
just keep slapping the hamster,its ovious to anyone with any knowledge that the hamster is a part-time fair ground driver.
Nice article but we knew all this after the race from Ross Brawn
Agree with Ray33. Take'em all down!
Yahoo's law: the better the article, the worse the comments. Is nobody moderating this so-called discussion?
a max a mosley a just like a muppet a gordon brown willa run a F1 into the a ground before hea leave a like brown a done toa britain mistake after a mistake anda lies a after a lies but a still hea will a nota GO..me a also stilla not a sure a who the a uglyier a me a potter ora stunning a jeanette
mr hamiltons son say he stay with mclaren men for life. that nice for him but what do mclaren men say? you see mclaren is now german owned. the parent company is the mercedes benz which is the german. the engine is the german engine. everything about the team is the german. mr hamiltons son now the swiss gentleman he eat much cheese and sings in the morning at mountains. mr hamiltons father is also now the swiss man. in fact there nothing british about this team at all. even the man who tidy up the garage after the race has moved to switzerland with his mother. switzerland is owned by the german. my friends the whole team is GERMAN - and guess what - so is mr glock. now you see why the time stand still for mr glock on the last lap. like he in the time warp. not even the people abducted by the alien lose the amount of time he lost on that last lap. IT IS A DISGRACE!!! ANOTHER CHEATIN YEAR IN 2009 FROUM MCLAREN AND CHEATIN BASHIN MR HAMILTONS SON ....mr a hamilton asun the bigger a cheat
HELLO MY LITTLE F1 BUDDIES THIS IS YOU FRIEND MARINARO4 FROM CHILE, WHAT A NICE YOUNG MAN IS MR VETTEL'S SON, SUCH A NICE YOUNG MAN IS MR VETTELS SON, HE'S GOT SUCH A NICE SMILE. MR VETTELS SON IS MUCH NICER THAN MR WEBBER'S SON, BUT ALL CONSIDERING MR WEBBER'S SON DRIVES WELL WITH A IRON BALL AND CHAIN AROUND HIS ANKLES, THOSE NAUGHTY CONVICTS HAVE COME BACK TO BRITAIN TO HAUNT YOU. HOW WAS THE CRIME RATE AT SILVERSTONE LAST WEEKEND, WITH THOSE NAUGHTY CONVICTS AROUND NOTHING WOULD HAVE BEEN SAFE. MY DEAR FRIEND TOURONROUTE TOLD ME THAT WHEN THOSE CONVICT'S DRINK THEIR BEER, THAT THEY GET SO PI-SS-ED THAT THEY GO OUT LOUTING AND BREAKING INTO SHOPS. WHAT A DANGER THEY ARE, WHY ARE THEIR F1 RACES IN THE CONVICTS LAND, THAT ISLAND PRISON IS SO FAR AWAY. IT REMINDS ME OF CUBA, BUT LARGER.
The RBR cars never were too far behind the Brawn machinery in terms of pure performance this season. The small aerodynamic adjustements done on the RBRs and the fact that the Brawns were facing tire heating problems levelled the two teams. Driver ability and traffic did the rest.
The first time, in Shanghai the track was cold and wet, and the second time the track was coller than usual. Helped by the better aero combo performace the RBRs were faster than everyone.But this situation would unlike to remain like that.
Summer is coming -that means hotter tracks-, there are three weeks break to test -that means computer simulations, thanks to Herr Mosley- and in Germany we can expect a much higher track temperature and a better performace by the Brawns...but we should not disconsider the work of the RBR Team...and all the others that are looming on the sideways, like Renault, Ferrari, BMW-Sauber and Toyota. They will fight till the end, even if only to prepare a new car, to be built under the present rules, with or without breakaway series.
does the hamster need slapping? YES.
does the hamster need slapping? YES.
does the hamster need slapping? YES.
does the hamster need slapping? YES.
does the hamster need slapping? YES.
does the hamster need slapping? YES.
Hey Mark:
You aren't Vettel get use to that!
The way i see it mr hamiltons son and button are both British yet button doesnt seem to command or gain the amount of respect that mr hamiltons son used to recieve when all was well. Could Button say is it cause i is White....and paid some Tax before i fled the island that Fed me,,,mr hamiltons son and mr hamiltons Father could not get away quick enough.
A question often asked of me is why don't I write some new posts and not just post the same old Potter, Bernard, Marion and Marnio posts? Its a good question and I suppose the
answer is that I am a sad old woman who has nothing better to do and not only but these posts take me days to write because I am so stupid. When I post them you lot unkindly
thumb them down so I have to keep re-posting them, its all I have left in life.
i must admit after reading some of these posts Touron does have a point.
Why did glok slow down so much in the last lap..
Why was glok driving on the wet side of the track in the last few remaining bends allowing hamilton to take the inside DRY line to victory.
HHHmmmmmm.....seems a little suspicious to me...Can anyone enlighten me as to why Glok lost so much time on the Last Lap it was if he was abducted by the ALIENS
Whats it all about..
Why cant this question be answered especially by mclaren fans and especially by Doughnut Ray $%^&...
Why has the evidence ie..the last lap of the brazilian GB especially the last few corners been removed from You Tube..
Why do Mclaren fans keep running away from this question and the Truth..
people keep saying wait till jeremey clarkson show..all will be revealed...
i mean considering glok was on slick tyres why was he driving right in the wet line of the track on the last few corners..everyone keeps saying they are surprised he finished at all considering the conditions...Various posts state it was like an ice rink...
So why was Glok driving in the WET on SLICKS on the WET LINE NOT/ THE DRY LINE on the last few bends....please tell im waiting and have been all Day and probably will be for a long time yet.
SHUYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
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TIMESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
WORLDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
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LOVE ITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
RAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY....the Runaway Kid...lol
THIS RECORD WILL NEVER BE MATCHED!!!!!!!!!!!
ps...for the record any driver who won the title in 2008 was going to inherit a phoney crown After the season weve had,,,HOLD YOUR HEADS IN SHAME MCLAREN FOR ANOTHER CHEATING YEAR IN 2009 AS IM SURE YOU WILL!!!......and you didnt disappoint did you...
The way i see it mr hamiltons son and button are both British yet button doesnt seem to command or gain the amount of respect that mr hamiltons son used to recieve when all was well. Could Button say is it cause i is White....and paid some Tax before i fled the island that Fed me,,,mr hamiltons son and mr hamiltons Father could not get away quick enough.
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