Red Bull has brought an updated floor to Formula 1’s British Grand Prix as it bids to stave off the ever-increasing threat from rivals Mercedes and McLaren.
The Milton Keynes-based outfit had started the season in dominant fashion, but has seen its advantage eroded in recent weeks as competitors have brought their own upgrades.
Ahead of this weekend’s race at Silverstone, Red Bull has notified the FIA of two clear changes it has made to its floor in a bid to help lift its performance.
The team said that it has reprofiled the surface of its floor above and behind the lower Side Impact Structure tube.
It said that this change has been done “based upon research and comparison with full scale results to get more energy thus pressure to the floor edge wing”.
Working in conjunction with this floor surface changes, Red Bull has also reprofiled the edge wing with some new details.
Red Bull added: “Given higher pressure upstream, the edge wing detail has been subtly changed to add more camber deriving more load whilst respecting the necessity for flow stability.”
But while Red Bull hopes to make gains, its main challengers are not sitting still with both Mercedes and McLaren bringing revised wings to the British GP.
Mercedes has brought a lower downforce mid-range rear wing that should improve aerodynamic efficiency for the high-speed swoops of Silverstone.
In conjunction with this, it has also trimmed its front wing flap, with a smaller chord, to help reduce load. This will help ensure that, if the new rear wing is used, the aero balance across the car will still be in the optimum window.
McLaren has also brought a lower downforce rear wing to help reduce drag. It is also experimenting with three different load beam wings – targeted at high, medium and low drag aero loads – so it can optimise the downforce/drag levels at the rear of the car for optimum performance.
The Woking-based team has also introduced some new bodywork that features an additional cooling exit in its engine cover to help increase flow.
Watch: View from the Paddock - F1 British Grand Prix Thursday Update
