TECH WEEKLY: Has a Ferrari-esque upgrade brought Red Bull back into contention?

Since 2023, Ferrari have used a similar lower fairing shape to that introduced by Red Bull in Baku, with no trailing edge, just diagonal sides meeting to a point.

Although the changes Red Bull brought to its RB20 in Baku were described by the team as ‘subtle’, Sergio Perez reckoned it ‘the biggest upgrade we have had all year’ in terms of the improvement he found in the car’s behaviour.

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Max Verstappen was less ringing in his endorsement after a difficult weekend in which he was out-performed by his team mate for the first time in over a year. However, even Verstappen was quick to point out that the car had basically improved significantly – but that he had made a set up change between Free Practice 3 and qualifying which turned out to be in the wrong direction.

So what was this subtle change which saw Perez put the team back in competitive contention? The geometry of the whole floor was tweaked to give what Red Bull described as an improvement in ‘the pressure gradients along the floor to improve the flow locally and downstream in all conditions’. The visible part of those changes are at the back, around the diffuser area.