Analysis

Formula 1

Tech analysis: The Red Bull imitation that surprised Vettel

The Singapore GP has always been somewhat of a happy hunting ground for Red Bull, as the tight, twisty street circuit plays into the chassis-dominated ethos that it employs.

Matt Somerfield Giorgio Piola

Edited: Sep 20, 2017, 12:15 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Pole sitter Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, inspects the Redbull

Giorgio Piola's F1 technical analysis

Giorgio Piola is the preeminent Formula 1 technical journalist. View our full selection of Giorgio's technical illustrative content

Dominating all of the free practice sessions, it was clear that the RB13 was not only suited to this circuit but has come on leaps and bounds throughout the season.

Teasing Adrian Newey back into the fold could be considered pivotal to this, with the aero guru's attention previously split between his commitments to Red Bull Racing and other projects, such as the Aston Martin Valkyrie.

Often considered an innovator, he also recognises the merits of taking design inspiration from others and making it work to his and his team's advantage.

As such, he's often seen wandering up and down the pitlane checking out everyone else's cars and sketching in his red notebook.

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and so Ferrari should feel pleased that Red Bull has taken onboard one of its designs, something even Sebastian Vettel felt the need to highlight in his post-qualifying interview, when he jokingly proclaimed: "This is ours, looks like a copy, no?"

Red Bull RB13 and Ferrari SF70H bargeboards comparison

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

He was, of course, talking about the new sidepod deflector that Red Bull mounted to the RB13 for Singapore.

The deflector, which does bear more than a striking resemblance to the one used by Ferrari since the start of the season, is placed in a position that many other teams have started to frequent, either in this format or in a similar multi-element fashion to what Mercedes started the season with too (below).

The inclusion of this new deflector by Red Bull has heralded several other changes as a consequence, the bargeboard has been amended, with an axehead found extending out from it (blue arrow), while the airflow conditioner that ordinarily extrudes upward from the floor (inset) is intersected by it.

Now while the Ferrari and Red Bull deflectors may initially look like twins, there is one major difference, with Red Bull opting to discard Ferrari's more blunt leading edge in favour of a leading edge slat (red arrow), which is likely a consequence of differing flow characteristics ahead, as Red Bull looks to have the deflector work across a wider speed threshold than if it had adopted the same design as Ferrari.

Mercedes W08 bargeboards

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

The game of assimilation was not isolated to Red Bull in Singapore though, with Williams sporting a new set of deflectors that follow a similar design philosophy to Mercedes, albeit not as complex.

Williams FW40 side

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

Like Red Bull, the changes made by Williams culminated in the redesign of the airflow conditioners too, as the new configuration's forward-most deflector is anchored to floor's axehead.

This is another surface that was optimised as part of the new package and now features three distinct sections, rather than one (blue arrow).

The displacement of the airflow conditioner to a more inboard and rearward position has meant that the small slot, which mirrored the floor slot below for legality purposes, is no longer needed (inset, green arrow).

To help maintain the airflow conditioner's rigidity and also act as a vortex generator, a small vertical tab now resides atop the sidepod too (red arrow).

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Honda spell a "proper disaster" for McLaren's image - Boullier

Next article Obituary: John Nicholson, 1941-2017

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Kimi Antonelli: "Weird" spin and car instability cost F1 Brazilian GP win

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

25 min

Kimi Antonelli: "Weird" spin and car instability cost F1 Brazilian GP win

Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc summoned to stewards after F1 Brazilian GP

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

1 h

Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc summoned to stewards after F1 Brazilian GP

Jorge Martin will be "almost 100% fit" in Portugal as heroic Qatar display keeps title hopes alive

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Qatar GP

1 h

Jorge Martin will be "almost 100% fit" in Portugal as heroic Qatar display keeps title hopes alive

Five quick takeaways from Brazilian GP

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

2 h

Five quick takeaways from Brazilian GP

Feature

Discover prime content

"He really wanted it" – why Russell was furious over aborted Brazil ‘pole’ lap

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Stuart Codling

"He really wanted it" – why Russell was furious over aborted Brazil ‘pole’ lap

What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 Brazilian GP

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 Brazilian GP

How F1’s rules got to be so complex

Formula 1

By Pat Symonds

How F1’s rules got to be so complex

A water park, “not a rock star” and Toto Wolff’s words – Is Kimi Antonelli really a different F1 champion?

Formula 1

By Ronald Vording

A water park, “not a rock star” and Toto Wolff’s words – Is Kimi Antonelli really a different F1 champion?

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts