Red Bull follows latest F1 trend with new rear wing at Singapore GP

The upgrade on the RB19 incorporates the semi-detached wing tip section that has been pursued by the other teams for several races now.

The new arrangement has a metal bracket that sits inside the rolled mainplane boundary upon which the upper tip section resides. This not only results in the upper flap being extended laterally but also alters the way the vortex will form at the tip.

This obviously has an impact on the shape of not only the tip section but also the rear cutout thereafter, with the designers having to rebalance their design to factor in downforce and drag requirements.

Explaining the change in the official FIA technical submission documents, Red Bull was open that it had copied the idea from others.

“Taking inspiration from competitor designs, the end of the flap element has a revised curl to the endplate which offers more local load for this element for this particular upper wing design,” it said.

Meanwhile, there’s a parallel development program underway from a number of Red Bull's rivals, who have also looked at the way the upper tip section of the wing and endplate are connected.

Mercedes F1 W14 rear wing Dutch GP

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

Interestingly this was introduced simultaneously by Alpine and Aston Martin at the Monaco Grand Prix, and has since been embraced by Mercedes and Ferrari.

Comparatively their variant doesn’t have the metal bracket sit inboard of the endplate, rather it frames it. This in-turn allows the aerodynamicists to take a more liberal approach with the design of the rear cutout.

The rear wing is not the only change that Red Bull has brought to Singapore, with the team also making revisions to the floor edge. The team has applied more camber to the forward portion of the floor edge wing.

Explaining the reasoning behind making this upgrade, Red Bull said: “To exploit energy in the air stream, more camber has been applied to the forward part of the floor edge wing resulting in more local load from this region of the floor assembly.”

Ferrari SF-23 rear wing detail, Belgian GP

Photo by: Giorgio Piola