By: Charles Bradley, Global Editor in Chief Motorsport.com
Happy Easter weekend, everyone. Beyond the great racing we saw in Bahrain, one of the main reasons the balance of Formula 1 power has been tipped in Red Bull’s favour is the rake of its car.
If you don’t know what rake is, it’s the angle at which the car runs in relation to the ground. Look at a side-on view of the Red Bull at slow speed, and you’ll notice its rear end in way up in the air compared to a Mercedes or Aston Martin – both of which are low-rake cars.
Over the winter, F1 rulemakers effectively cut a chunk out of the floor of all the cars, in a crucial area just in front of the rear wheels. Combined with a chassis freeze and new token system, which limited the scope for major design concept changes, the low-rake runners effectively got stuck with their concept, and the additional loss of downforce at the rear seems to have hurt them much more.
But with all the resources and skills at its disposal, don’t expect Mercedes to take this lying down. F1 is a constant development war, and there are a lot of races for the balance to tip once more… |
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