Why the high-rake of the RB16B plays into Red Bull's hands

Mark Hughes and Giorgio Piola have tried to explain why Red Bull Racing was more than two tenths faster than Mercedes on the straights at the Red Bull Ring in the technical analysis for the official website of Formula 1.

"Downforce created by the rear wing is very costly in drag," the experts begin. "Downforce created by the underfloor costs very little drag. Therefore if Red Bull have found a way – through these latest diffuser tweaks – to derive a greater proportion of its total downforce from the underfloor, it will be faster down the straights for no penalty in corner speeds."

High-rake advantage Red Bull

According to Hughes and Piola, Mercedes noted that with its own W12 they reportedly lost 0.25 seconds over Red Bull in top speed on the straights alone. The Austrians' high-rake philosophy seems to play into their hands. "Because a high-rake car can better link up the flows from the rear brake ducts and the diffuser strakes, tweaking the diffuser in this way will tend to find a greater advantage than from a low-rake car. Especially under the '21 aero restrictions around this area of the car."

Mercedes indicated after the Styrian Grand Prix that its focus will be entirely on 2022, and Formula 1's technical men think that might have something to do with the above: "Could this be why Mercedes feels its car has effectively run out of development potential at a time when Red Bull is still finding significant gains?"