Formula 1
How RB identified its Barcelona F1 upgrade issues
Experiments at the Austria and Silverstone Formula 1 races showed RB's Barcelona floor cost mid-corner performance
Jake Boxall-Legge
Published: Aug 18, 2024, 9:51 AM
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RB rolled back on its Barcelona floor after identifying it as the main reason its Spanish Grand Prix upgrades missed the mark, according to technical director Jody Egginton.
A series of updates aimed at raising the level of the VCARB 01 to consolidate sixth in the constructors' championship ended up hurting the balance of RB's 2024 car, leading to a frustrating Barcelona weekend.
Egginton detailed the process that the team went through to determine the main mitigating factors of the upgrade, initially suggested to be a fluttering rear wing, as RB found that the floor lost performance during the mid-corner phase.
The ex-Force India and Lotus engineer said that although it was difficult to evaluate the package throughout the European triple-header, particularly with the Austrian Grand Prix being a sprint event, he was satisfied with the findings that the team had unveiled.
"We had an update targeting certain benefits. We're still trying to get all the headline load improvements, but we were focusing a little bit still to get a bit more brake entry stability, a bit more rotation in the car, all the normal things," Egginton told Motorsport.com in an exclusive interview.
"As a package, it was clear that we hadn't been able to extract everything from it, and although the load that we anticipated was there, we'd sort of decoupled the car in through-corner and through-speed balance more than we wanted.
Yuki Tsunoda, RB F1 Team VCARB 01, in the gravel
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images
"There was no doubt that the load was in the package but, trading load against balance, we were not able to access that performance.
"So we took the decision immediately to roll one car back and do a back-to-back in Austria - it was a two-stage experiment because the parc ferme window this year in sprint races opens up twice. We had two goes at it, bottomed it out. And then for Silverstone, we had a baseline aero config and essentially we'd rolled back the floor."
Reflecting on the floor design, Egginton stated that it nonetheless had aspects that the team was keen on exploring further - even if the first iteration ultimately did not work.
Although the team was disappointed that it didn't work out, he added that reverting to older specifications was a natural part of the upgrade process for every team in F1.
"The floor is a one-piece thing with bits of it we liked, bits of it we didn't. You don't get the choice to split it up," he said.
"You bring the update to the first event, you've got things you want to learn, but we delved straight into it, did our washing, found the answer and moved on. So I'm quite happy with the process.
Daniel Ricciardo, RB F1 Team VCARB 01
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
"Clearly not happy that we couldn't access all the performance we had, which is far better than not actually realising the performance. But yeah, we've converged to a configuration now.
"A lot of learning from that floor that we're not running, which we'll apply to the next floor because some aspects of it we like.
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"Most teams have [rolled back] at one point or another. To believe that you can attain everything is naive - if you're trying to develop this aggressively, it's just how it is.
"I'd be concerned if every single part got retained! I'd question that as 'are we sure, do we want to look at that again?' Because experimentally the likelihood of that is low."
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