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A unique “ice skate” on the underside of the Red Bull RB18’s floor seems to be the reason behind its apparent immunity to porpoising – an issue that has plagued almost every car on the grid since the start of the 2022 F1 season.
When the new cars hit the track for the first time in Barcelona pre-season testing, many teams were taken aback by the severity of the bouncing that the cars underwent at high speeds. While some teams had predicted it to be an issue, its intensity was still surprising.
Nearly two-and-a-half months and four races later, many teams are still struggling to tame the issue without losing too much performance, while others seem to be able to ignore it altogether. Only Red Bull seem to have fixed the issue entirely, with the RB18 having displayed little to no porpoising since Bahrain.
According to the Motorsport Network, an innovative part on the rear of the RB18’s floor is the reason why. Dubbed the “ice skate,” it is a strip of metal that is fixed to the edge of the floor.
While none are sure of its purpose, it is speculated that it either lends stiffness to the floor, thereby preventing it from flexing too much under load, or that it prevents the floor from bottoming out and stalling by skidding across the track.
Regardless of its exact workings, the relatively thin strip of metal seems to be helping the RB18 avoid porpoising.
Furthermore, the solution seems to be more effective compared the ones employed by their rivals such as Alpine and Ferrari, where a metal stay is attached on the upper side of the floor and to the engine cover to prevent the floor from flexing under load.
Red Bull set to “dominate” new era of F1: Sergio Perez
Red Bull driver Sergio Perez has claimed that his team is “set to dominate” F1’s new era as soon as they get a handle on their reliability issues. Speaking to Fox Sports Mexico following the Austrian team’s 1-2 finish at Imola, Perez said:
“We still have a lot of problems to solve, but the main thing is that we are competitive and Red Bull is set to dominate the next few years with these new regulations.
“We should be leading both the drivers’ and constructors’ titles. It has been a difficult start, but the team has worked hard to be on par with Ferrari, we have cut several points from Ferrari.”
While the Red Bull RB18 has been extremely competitive since the start of the season, it has also been plagued with various reliability issues.
The effect of their early DNFs in Bahrain and Australia was such that reigning F1 world champion Max Verstappen trails Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, despite having won every race that he has finished in 2022 so far.
