Technical Insight: Red Bull tests new floor during Silverstone ‘filming day’

Red Bull returned to the circuit at Silverstone on Thursday for a filming day in its Honda-powered RB16 ahead of next weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix.

During the session, with Alexander Albon behind the wheel of the car, the team used a new floor on the RB16 compared to that seen during the Barcelona tests.

In the terminal area, the new base features vertically developed elements that divert the flow towards the outside, to reduce the phenomenon known as ‘tyre squirt’.

Although the FIA has imposed a limit of 100km during the filming days, that will have provided Red Bull’s engineers with enough data to compare the new floor to that run in Barcelona in February.

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The new flow deviators, which have likely been 3D printed with their white appearance, are located ahead of the rear tyre and direct airflow around the outside as well as generate vortexes to work the airflow, increasing the efficiency of the floor and the overall downforce.

Red Bull’s technicians have certainly been working hard during the coronavirus-induced halt to try to improve the traction of the RB16, particularly increasing the vertical load at the rear.

Deviators like these are not new. Ferrari first ran something similar in 2018 and Red Bull itself has run something similar before.