Red Bull Racing may already be behind due to changes to the floor

While the cars were originally intended to remain unchanged for 2021, the FIA has made some changes that could be significant. Not least for the fight between Mercedes and Red Bull, teams that have built quite different cars in view of these changes.

The biggest changes for 2021 will be on the floor. It is estimated that it will generate about ten percent less downward pressure. The FIA ​​does this for safety, also with regard to the Pirelli tyres, which are subject to increasing forces.

Until this season, the floor ran in a straight line from the widest point of the chassis (next to the cockpit) to the rear wheels. As cars have become slimmer at the rear in recent years, those ends of the floor have become structurally "useless".

The fact that they are still there has everything to do with a large amount of downward pressure that this floor can generate. The angle of inclination (rake) of the floor, in conjunction with the diffuser, creates negative air pressure under the car and sucks it towards the ground, as it were.

What exactly is going to change about the floor

From next season, teams are therefore obliged to cut this part of the floor diagonally from the cockpit to the rear wheel. The floor is then ten centimetres further inwards at the rear wheel. The green triangle in the photo below shows which part of the floor will disappear.

In addition to partially removing the floor, all slots and holes on the remaining pieces of floor are also banned. They are also there to generate as much downward pressure as possible. All in all, this would slow the cars by about half a second per lap.

The differences between Red Bull Racing and Mercedes

These provisions are the same for every team, but the effect is by no means. Most teams have different wheelbases and so the size of the floor differs. Also, there are differences in "rake" between the teams. That is the degree to which the car leans forward.

Red Bull Racing and Mercedes are opposites in that respect. The Mercedes is long and is relatively flat on the road, while the Red Bull is a relatively short car that also leans forward excessively. It goes without saying that cutting away part of that floor will not have a proportional effect on both teams.

Exactly what that effect is will only be known at this point in the wind tunnel of both teams. What is certain is that a larger piece of floor will disappear in absolute terms at Mercedes. Since they mainly rely on the increased floor space to generate downforce, you would say at first glance that they are hit harder by this rule change.

However, due to the universal provision of ten centimetres, Red Bull Racing lose a larger percentage of their floor due to their shorter wheelbase. More importantly, due to the "high rake" concept, the Red Bull generates more negative pressure per square centimetre, so that for every square centimetre that disappears they lose relatively more downward pressure than Mercedes.

These are of course only assumptions and the actual aerodynamic specialists in the wind tunnel in Milton Keynes will know exactly how it is, but based on this you can say that Red Bull is already 1-0 behind for 2021.

This article was written and originally published by Corwin on the Dutch edition of GPblog.com.