RED BULL VS MCLAREN DIFFUSER

The terminal part of Red Bull's diffuser is more complex: notice the additional 🟡ribs and the 🔴step

McL's diffuser is more minimalistic

A diffuser produces a lot of downforce, and little drag➡️ extracting its potential is crucial for performance!

📸 @xavigazquez

Race pace wins you races, and it's not looking good for the updated Red Bull⚠️

PIA did the fastest long run (Average: 1:20.6 on Hards)
NOR was 2nd quickest (1:20.8).

The updated Ferrari was right behind (1:20.9).
Next up, Mercedes (1:21.0).

RBR: 0.6s/lap behind.🤔

If both drivers of a team did their long runs on the same compound, their average was considered for that team.

McL was the only top team to test two different compounds in the long runs.

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QUALI SIMULATION - SECTORS

S1: 🥇LEC🥈VER🥉NOR
S2: 🥇NOR🥈RUS🥉LEC
S3: 🥇HAM🥈LEC🥉TSU

Ferrari quickest in S1 (two straight and 2 chicanes); McL in S2 (Fast corners), Merc in S3 (chicane + two 90-deg corners)

RBR struggled in S3: VER has a 0.25s gap to HAM!

🟡The RB20 already lost its predecessor's big top speed advantage; in Imola FP2, though, only Alpine had a top speed lower than theirs!

🟢Merc and 🟠McL, much draggier than them last year, caught up with them

🟢Aston and ⚪️Haas sacrificed their downforce to minimise drag

It would have been a McLaren 1-2 without VER's perfect slipstream in Sector 1! 😳

VER gained 0.142s over his previous lap right before the braking point: he reached 340km/h vs 333km/h on the previous lap at the same point.💡

McL: quickest in S2 and S3 - it's game on for tomorrow!🔥

In his last lap, Verstappen gained 4km/h of top speed (and 7km/h at the same point on the track).

He got a perfect slipstream on the main straight, gaining 0.142s there, over his previous lap!

Alpine had the worst top speed (327), then Ferrari (330), Merc (331) and McL (332).

Which car has the best grip?🤔

Horizontal axis: lateral grip (cornering).
Vertical: long. grip (traction/braking).

RedBull and McL couldn't be more different!
🟡 @redbullracing : excellent cornering
🟠 @McLarenF1 : great braking
🔴 @ScuderiaFerrari : good (but not best) in both.

Notes on Emilia Romagna GP Race:

🔵VER won by a TINY margin! Turned the tide in Q. PER seemed stuck in FP3.
🟠McL: updates fixed drag, preserving their strengths! The next races will be EPIC.
🔴Ferrari: excellent tyre wear, terrible top speed. LEC 2nd in the WDC.
⚫️Merc 4th force.
🟢Aston is nowhere.

What's YOUR take? 🤔

GREAT RACE!!🤩

RACE PACE (faster 1-stopper per team)

Gap
🟠McL/NOR: FASTEST
🟡RedBull/VER: +0.02s
🔴Ferrari/LEC: +0.10s
🟢Merc/HAM: +0.45s

3 drivers within 0.1s/lap, and VER had no floor damage this time!

Teammate gap:
SAI: +0.24s
PER: +0.7s🚨

Aston went back to their late 2022 form...

Emilia Romagna GP - Race | Gap to Race Winner:

🟠McLaren got closer and closer to 🟡RedBull's pace as the race went on:

Laps 0-20: NOR lost ~5s to VER
Laps 20-40: NOR matched VER
Laps 40-end: NOR recovered ~7s

McL: great tyre management on Hards and performance with less fuel

🔴Ferrari pitted later➡️Fresher tyre at the end

And in case you want to see ALL the Race analyses (tyre wear per team, pitstop times, top speeds, stints comparison) and read the in-depth post-race article (writing it now) you can do so by supporting the page. 👇
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TOP SPEEDS

Alonso reached 350km/h, desperately trying to overtake! Aston's lower-drag setup didn't pay.

Top Speeds without DRS:
🟡VER 323km/h
🟠NOR 321km/h
🔴LEC 316km/h

Ferrari was draggy: VER used the DRS just once, yet reached a higher top speed than LEC and SAI.

Ferrari's high drag made passing Perez hard for Leclerc and Sainz, despite fresh tyres⚠️

Top Speeds in Quali:
337km/h PER📈
330km/h LEC/SAI📉

DRS + Slipstream gave a top speed advantage of just 16km/h for LEC and 15km/h for SAI.

Fortunately, drag won't be an issue in Monaco!💡

For context, PER had a 24km/h top speed advantage when overtaking the Haas on L40, and a 28km/h adv. overtaking TSU on L42.

Over 1.5 times that of both Ferrari cars! (And when overtaking TSU almost twice that of SAI).

Ferrari's drag was in part due to their more loaded rear wing.

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Who was fastest at the speed trap?
(Qualifying laps, NO DRS)

🥇⚪️Haas! (low-drag wing)
🥈🟡RedBull had very low drag too.
🥉🟠As seen in Miami, the updates seem to have solved McLaren’s high drag.

🔴Ferrari didn’t shine, but Mercedes/Alpine/Aston were far worse.

Made via @JMP_software

In the last 20 laps, 🟠Norris recovered the gap that 🔵VER gave him in the first 20.

His McL was much more competitive on Hards than Mediums.
Even though NOR pitted one lap sooner and mounted a used set, he gained more and more as the stint progressed (until he was ~1.5s behind).

Made via @JMP_software

💡What makes Monaco GP EXTREME:
-Traction crucial + shortest straights➡️Maximum load rear and beam wings.
-Lowest grip, abrasion, tyre stress, and lateral grip demands➡️Softest compounds (C3-C5) will last for ages!

It will be close:
🥇RedBull
🥈Ferrari/McL

What's your take?🤔

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