The scale of Red Bull’s advantage in Belgium has left rivals scratching their heads, as the team have been fairly tied with Ferrari on clear pace for much of 2022. But while theories that Red Bull were profiting from the introduction of a lightweight frame were dismissed, the Milton Keynes-based team pointed to one element that seemed to play particularly into their hands. As the teams have to run at a higher altitude range at Spa because the cars can’t run too close to the ground because the compression at Eau Rouge risks hitting the floorboards on the track, this meant some of the RB18’s power was excessive. In particular, it appears that while Ferrari and Mercedes generate more downforce when running as close to the ground as possible, Red Bull can still achieve peak levels when running higher. This element, combined with their car being so strong on the straight, meant that Red Bull lost less by running higher and were in a different league at the Belgian circuit. Team boss Christian Horner said: “I think this track has played to our strengths. We have a very efficient car, we found a very good set-up. Max was just in amazing form, from the very first lap in P1.” Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB18, sparks Photo: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images Responding to rumors before the weekend that Red Bull were releasing a lightweight car, Horner said: “No, we haven’t brought it. And no, we haven’t… so no, it wasn’t an execution factor. “I think there was a lot going on and there was a lot of expectation going into it [porpoising] TD, and arguably it probably hurts others more than it hurts ourselves. “But we haven’t really changed the way the car works. Obviously, grounding here is always an issue because of Eau Rouge. But that’s not unique to us. That’s true for every team. “But I think we’ve seen that already this year we’ve run more ground. Our philosophy is probably a little bit different than some of the others. Maybe we’ll get a TD for the next game that [says] we [have] I have to run much lower.” Lightweight chassis Although Horner dismissed the idea of Red Bull introducing a lightweight chassis for Spa, he was coy about the team working on such a design. Red Bull battled against the minimum weight limit all season but managed to make steady progress to get within a few kilos of where they ideally wanted to be. Asked about the possibility of Red Bull bringing a lighter chassis to the next two or three races – with Singapore singled out as a possible spot for its debut – Horner was very careful with his words. “There is no … these chassis will run for the next races,” he said. Read also:
