{"id":217356,"date":"2025-10-22T07:42:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T07:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/217356\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T07:42:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T07:42:14","slug":"is-ride-height-the-hidden-key-to-red-bull-and-max-verstappens-f1-resurgence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/217356\/","title":{"rendered":"Is ride height the hidden key to Red Bull and Max Verstappen’s F1 resurgence?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Red Bull Racing<\/a>\u2019s rise during the second half of the F1 season has been, to use Laurent Mekies\u2019 own words from Singapore, \u201cspectacular\u201d. Since the summer break, Max Verstappen<\/a> hasn\u2019t finished lower than second. The pure pace wasn\u2019t there in Zandvoort, but from then on, the form has been impressive: three wins (Monza, Baku, and Austin) and a sprint victory.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It confirms that Red Bull\u2019s resurgence isn\u2019t limited to one specific type of circuit. After triumphs on two low-downforce tracks, Singapore was expected to be a real test. Then came question marks over the medium-speed corners in Austin \u2013 yet Red Bull passed all those tests. Admittedly, the pure race pace in Texas wasn\u2019t much better than McLaren<\/a>\u2019s \u2013 or Lando Norris<\/a>\u2019 \u2013 but the fact that Verstappen could at least operate at the same level already marks a huge contrast to earlier in the year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The key question, of course, is what lies behind this turnaround. Verstappen admitted in Singapore that the new floor, introduced in Monza, has helped \u2013 but said it wasn\u2019t the main factor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s more about a different philosophy,\u201d he said. That new philosophy partly concerns<\/a> how the team operates before and during a race weekend: listening more to the driver, relying less blindly on data. But that\u2019s not the entire story. Mekies and senior advisor Helmut Marko have both added that it\u2019s also about how Red Bull \u201cruns the car\u201d, and that particular element is interesting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Stella would \u201cbet his dollar\u201d on ride height understanding\u00a0<\/p>\n

During the Austin weekend, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella shared his theory about Red Bull\u2019s progress. Part of the explanation, naturally, is that Red Bull continued developing its 2025 car longer<\/a> than McLaren, but according to Stella there’s more.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think if they have improved their car, it is because they might have fixed some potential aerodynamic issues,\u201d Stella said. \u201cWe know, like I said before, that there was a new floor in Monza and a new front wing in Singapore. And also, I think\u00a0their drivers seem to be much more vocal about ride and about grounding. So it could be that they have simply understood that this generation of cars and their own car as well needs to be run challenging some aspects like ride heights. For me, if I needed to or if I had to speculate, this would be where I would put my $1.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Charles <\/p>\n

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Lando Norris, McLaren, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing<\/p>\n

Photo by: Michael Potts \/ LAT Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n

It\u2019s well known that ground-effect cars must run as low as possible \u2013 and with particularly stiff suspension \u2013 to extract maximum performance. More than 60 percent of the total amount of downforce is generated underneath the car’s floor. A lower ride height increases the suction effect of the ground effect and, together with the floor edges, helps to seal the airflow underneath the floor to maintain optimal pressure differences: lower pressure under the floor, higher pressure alongside it. These fundamentals have long been understood, but Stella\u2019s impression is that, thanks to the Monza floor and a better grasp of how to use it, Red Bull can now run with lower ride heights than before \u2013 unlocking more potential from the RB21.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The ideal picture: unlocking rear downforce and front plank wear\u00a0<\/p>\n

This ties into an interesting talking point of last weekend \u2013 given the bumpy nature of the Circuit of the Americas: plank wear. Because ride height is so crucial, many teams try to run as low as possible, though there\u2019s a limit. After any race, the FIA can check plank wear and the skid blocks (the titanium plates that create sparks). These checks are made using four measurement holes in prescribed locations on the plank, in line with article 3.5.9f of the technical regulations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After a race, the plank must still measure at least 9mm thick at those points, meaning it may wear no more than 1mm during the race. That limit applies to the measurement holes, meaning other parts of the floor can theoretically wear more \u2013 as long as those zones pass inspection.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to Sauber<\/a> sporting director Inaki Rueda teams have made (varying) progress in lowering ride height without breaching those wear limits. Interestingly, different teams wear different parts of the plank more heavily \u2013 which is also seen in the FIA measurements. Most teams experience the greatest wear on the rear half of the plank, but McLaren has for some time already managed to wear the front of the plank more \u2014 which has several benefits.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is inherent in the car, but there are some mechanisms by which \u2013 with the stiffness of the suspension \u2013 you try to make it so that your weak point doesn’t get as loaded as possible,\u201d Rueda explained in Austin. That, he said, is crucial.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhichever team has managed to put it to the front, that means they are actually able to run the car lower than the rest of us. So, this is something quite clever. Whoever has managed to shift that wear to the front is probably able to run it lower than the rest of us, and thus get a competitive advantage.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s directly linked to how the floor works and where it generates most of its downforce. \u201cExactly, because most of the downforce comes from where the driver is sitting towards the back. So that’s where you really want the floor to be close to the ground. But if your main point of wear is back there, you need to raise the car at that point, and then you lose downforce at that point. And yes, a lot of design effort has been spent on trying to migrate that wear to the front, so that you can run it low. But it’s not an easy task.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Max <\/p>\n

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing<\/p>\n

Photo by: Jim Watson \/ AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

That challenge links to the suspension and kinematics. \u201cIt\u2019s difficult to move the wear forward because of the fact that the actual downforce is generated in the rear. So, you need to find a way that you’re still running all the downforce at the back, but that your main point of contact is at the front.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

That, in essence, is the puzzle every F1 team faces under the current regulations. McLaren was first to achieve that forward wear shift, but paddock suggestions indicate that Red Bull has at least made steps to lower the ride height in recent weeks as well \u2013 allowing it to extract more from the RB21.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Marko confirms ride height theory, Mekies more cautious\u00a0<\/p>\n

When Motorsport.com asked Helmut Marko about these ride height theories in the paddock \u2013 and whether the analysis is correct that Red Bull can now indeed run the car a bit lower than before \u2013 the Austrian smiled: \u201cIt’s not a wrong one.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

It fits in with what Red Bull has been saying in recent weeks: improved understanding of how to operate the car and the introduction of the Monza floor have been key to the improved form. Asked whether such ride height progress would have been possible without that new Monza floor, Marko replied: \u201cIt wouldn’t have been with such an effect.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Team principal Laurent Mekies, however, prefers to remain cautious.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI would certainly not be able to pinpoint one single element, such as one upgrade or one set of items,\u201d he replied when asked by Motorsport.com.\u00a0\u201cI think it will be largely minimising the amazing analysis job that has been done to try to identify where the untapped areas of performance were, and the effort to put the car in these areas and to see if it was going to perform.\u00a0It’s not a combination of one factor, it’s a combination of many, many factors.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don’t have a big incentive to explain to anyone what it is, but it’s a combination of all that.\u00a0And of course, every hundredth counts and the Monza floor has helped. Every single small detail that we’ve put on the car has helped, whether it is mechanically or aerodynamically.\u00a0And this, together with that extensive exploration of where to run the car, has helped us on the performance.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

While Mekies is right that modern Formula 1 is too complex to reduce to a single cause, the floor and ride height that comes with it remain fundamental to a car\u2019s performance. And on that front, Red Bull appears to have taken a significant step after the summer break, through both the Monza floor and a clearer understanding of how to use it without disturbing the overall car balance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That progress has helped Red Bull find the RB21\u2019s operating window more consistently than before, and unlock performance that according to Verstappen had been there for longer \u2013 at least to some extent. Whether that step forward has come in time for a fifth consecutive title remains to be seen \u2013 but it has unquestionably made Red Bull a major force again after some difficult months. In fact, over the past four race weekends, it\u2019s done even more than that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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– The Motorsport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Red Bull Racing\u2019s rise during the second half of the F1 season has been, to use Laurent Mekies\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":217357,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[70286,1687,372,6537,7941,93198,13492,3006,371,101,56,54,70285,55],"class_list":["post-217356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-f1","tag-circuit-of-the-americas","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-helmut-marko","tag-is-ride-height-the-hidden-key-to-red-bull-and-max-verstappens-f1-resurgence","tag-laurent-mekies","tag-max-verstappen","tag-red-bull-racing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-united-states-gp","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}