Red Bull appeared to be running an illegal car during practice one and two for the Australian Grand Prix. However it turns out that they’ve come up with an ingenious solution to the mandatory FOM camera requirements.
All 22 cars on the grid must run five camera housings which can be used by FOM during the season to provide onboard footage. Whilst not all of these housings will have a working camera, they carry a dummy camera to the same weight and size to ensure no competitior is advantaged of disadvantaged.
As you can see on the above image, the RB10 doesn’t have any visible camera mounts on the front of the car. Compare that to the image below of the Mercedes, and the camera mounts are clearly visible.
These small wings provide drag, albeit a small amount, and therefore hinder the airflow running over the car despite the designers best attempts at placing them in the best possible location to minimise the effects.
The inset image above sheds light on how Red Bull have managed to get around having these wings. Above the ‘o’ of Casio, a small hole can be seen which is for the FOM camera lens to see out of.
Red Bull have mounted the cameras within the vanity panel of the nose. Whilst a small opening on the nose will also provide drag and airflow disruption, it has a far smaller effect than the traditional approach.
It’s likely the legality of Red Bull’s solution will be questioned, but the technical regulations don’t state anything about the mountings having to be placed externally, or a certain distance from the centre line of the car.
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