Germany's Bild-Zeitung tabloid revealed that Red Bull's three title rivals are conspiring against the team with a common goal -- to stop the supremacy of the Renault-powered RB6 car.
Bild said the "secret pact" between McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes involves the "exchange of data" about the technical superiority of the latest car designed by Adrian Newey.
It was earlier wrongly believed that the RB6 was hiding some sort of variable ride-height system, but that's apparently not the case.
Auto123.com discussed the matter with the Chief Engineer of a rival team.
"For us, it seems the Red Bulls are running a very stiff set-up. From the onboard footage, we can see that the cars are stiffly sprung and are hopping quite a bit," he said.
"I don't think there's one specific secret with the car itself. The set-up of an F1 car is a complicated compromise between the aerodynamics and the suspension. In other words, it is a delicate balancing act between ride height and roll in the corners."
He added: "If the Red Bull engineers go to a very stiff set-up, there's a very good reason for it. The problem is that we cannot simply duplicate their suspension set-up and expect to achieve the same levels of performance. It's massively more complicated than that. It can be caused by a billion of factors, all interacting together," the source told Auto123.com.
"The compromise between aero set-up and the suspension set-up is extremely difficult to calculate, even with the most recent and most powerful super computers," the engineer concluded.
During the February tests, Red Bull had put stickers on the car to make it look like the exhausts were located conventionally, when in fact they were located much lower.
Bild-Zeitung wrote that the lower exhausts, hidden from view by six mechanics on the Barcelona grid, contribute to the car's superior aerodynamics, maybe by blowing hot air underneath the rear wing, therefore creating more downforce.
Bild said the "secret pact" between McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes involves the "exchange of data" about the technical superiority of the latest car designed by Adrian Newey.
It was earlier wrongly believed that the RB6 was hiding some sort of variable ride-height system, but that's apparently not the case.
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| Exhausts of the Red Bull RB6. (Photo: WRI2) |
Auto123.com discussed the matter with the Chief Engineer of a rival team.
"For us, it seems the Red Bulls are running a very stiff set-up. From the onboard footage, we can see that the cars are stiffly sprung and are hopping quite a bit," he said.
"I don't think there's one specific secret with the car itself. The set-up of an F1 car is a complicated compromise between the aerodynamics and the suspension. In other words, it is a delicate balancing act between ride height and roll in the corners."
He added: "If the Red Bull engineers go to a very stiff set-up, there's a very good reason for it. The problem is that we cannot simply duplicate their suspension set-up and expect to achieve the same levels of performance. It's massively more complicated than that. It can be caused by a billion of factors, all interacting together," the source told Auto123.com.
"The compromise between aero set-up and the suspension set-up is extremely difficult to calculate, even with the most recent and most powerful super computers," the engineer concluded.
During the February tests, Red Bull had put stickers on the car to make it look like the exhausts were located conventionally, when in fact they were located much lower.
Bild-Zeitung wrote that the lower exhausts, hidden from view by six mechanics on the Barcelona grid, contribute to the car's superior aerodynamics, maybe by blowing hot air underneath the rear wing, therefore creating more downforce.