When the 2022 Formula One season kicked off, few would have predicted the direction in which Ferrari and Red Bull took their cars. For the best part of a decade, mechanical grip and strong generation of downforce has been the name of the game for Red Bull. They have shone on tight, twisty tracks, and found themselves swallowed up on the straights.
In contrast, Ferrari since 2018 have put their focus onto raw power, and trying to match the straight-line speed of the Mercedes rocket ships. Peaking with their highly dubious 2019 engine, the Scuderia have found success on the most power hungry of tracks.
This year, the positions have flipped. Dominating the speed traps now are the Honda-powered Red Bulls and Alpha Tauris. With a powerful and reliable engine in their back, Red Bull have this year opted for creating a car with remarkably low drag. In their place as the kings of the corners stands Ferrari. In sectors that ask for responsive turning and high grip, Messrs Leclerc and Sainz tend to lead the way.
The question to consider halfway into the season is why Red Bull have pulled the trigger on such a 180 turn this season.
Mercedes Memories
A strong place to start is to look at the team who ran Red Bull the closest on track last season. Indeed, recent years in F1 have been dominated by the formidable Mercedes hybrid engine. This particularly became a factor in the closing rounds of the 2021 season. Happy to take engine penalties and crank the engine up, the Mercedes hit almost unprecedented heights of top speed terror. Never was this more clear than in Brazil where Lewis Hamilton sliced his way through the pack to quite comfortably catch and overtake Max Verstappen.
The story of much of the 2021 season was that of Max Verstappen gaining time in corners and having to do his best to avoid getting swallowed up on the straights. Having been on the receiving end of this treatment, one can understand why Red Bull might have been keen to flip the script.
See, a lower drag car might not do as well in qualifying. Given the rules allowing DRS deployment on qualifying laps, it is easier for a high downforce car to shed some drag than it is for a high drag car to find extra downforce. The result is often that you end up in the role of the hunter. This can be seen in the 2022 season in Ferrari’s dominance of pole positions compared to Red Bull.
Such a role is one that Red Bull and particularly Max Verstappen can play to perfection. As was once again exhibited starting from P10 in Hungary, the Milton Keynes team are experts of tactical aggression. Having spent much of the mid 2010’s taking gambles to steal podiums, this is a team precision engineered to chase. Creating a car that leans towards this philosophy is something of a comfortable fit for the team mentality.
The New Regulations
Furthermore, it makes for a good fit with the new regulations of 2022. For much of the past decade it has been very difficult for cars to follow each other over lots of laps. Being right behind a car has led to a great loss of downforce, overheating issues, and increased tyre degradation. In 2022, it seems as if following is easier.
As such, an ideal philosophy is one which leans towards straight-line speed. If you can now hang onto the back of a car through the corners, you are well suited to make a pass at the end of a straight. This is amplified by the role of the Drag Reduction System.
When within one second of a car at a certain detection point, the chasing car can open up their rear wing for a temporary reduction of drag and increase of top speed. If your car already has supreme speed, this becomes a very powerful tool.
This combination is what Red Bull are making the most of. Their car has enough grip to keep relatively close to Ferrari throughout twistier complexes of corners, but has a clear advantage on the straights. As such, their new philosophy is tailor-made for the 2022 overtake.
This has happened countless times already this season. Barring the season opener in Bahrain where Leclerc carefully managed the DRS detection zones, Verstappen has found it relatively easy to pass the Ferraris once within a second.
Honda Power
Of course, we must also consider why Red Bull have only just been able to make this switch. The answer lies in Honda power.
From 2013 to 2018, Red Bull struggled with the engines supplied to them by Renault. The engines ran at a power deficit to Ferrari and Mercedes engines, and came with a greater host of reliability issues. As such, relying on straight-line speed would have been a futile strategy. The engines could only compete when cranked up, and when cranked up frequently broke down.
With Honda, under the name of Red Bull Powertrains, the Bulls finally have the ability to let their engine shine. Honda power is fast and Honda power is reliable. Over the last few years they have suffered a remarkably low number of DNFs relating to engine problems. As such, a switch could finally be made to let the speed do the talking.
This is not to say that Red Bull have sold their downforce to become a rocket. Over the season they are still showing themselves to be competitive on tighter tracks. Simply that a shift in focus has been made. No longer content with being reeled in on the straights, Red Bull have decided to see what life is like on the other end of the chase.