The simple explanation for Red Bull’s DRS dominance

Soon after the race, Hamilton said he had never seen a car have such an edge over the opposition as the RB19.

“I’ve definitely never seen a car so fast,” he said. “I think when we were fast, we weren’t that fast. I think it’s the fastest car I’ve seen, especially compared to the rest.”

Hamilton’s comments prompted a great deal of speculation regarding Red Bull’s top-speed superiority and just how it was being achieved.

And while it is clear that Red Bull’s car has tremendous aerodynamic efficiency, much of the focus has been on the speed boost improvement that Red Bull appears to get from having its DRS open.

Contrary to the belief of many, there can be and are differences in the effectiveness of DRS between the teams depending on how they have shaped their wings.

While there’s a mandated maximum gap of 85mm that can be opened between the mainplane and upper flap, which is checked by the FIA (below), its effectiveness can be tuned by means of the wings’ overall design features.

But rather than there being some trick element to what Red Bull is up to, the answer appears to boil down to something very simple: having a wing that was perfectly suited to the Jeddah circuit demands.

As we know, teams create a suite of rear-wing designs for the variety of tracks that F1 visits throughout the course of the season.

These are often categorized as low, medium and downforce wings. However, there are often many more options in the suite of wings available than just one type for each level of downforce.

For many teams, the resource restrictions and cost cap have resulted in a reduction in the number of bespoke wing solutions when compared with the previous regulatory era.

And, with a low downforce, high-speed venue like Saudi Arabia slotted into second place in the calendar, many teams didn’t have a more bespoke option in their suite available just yet.

Red Bull RB19 rear wing

Photo by: Uncredited

Red Bull did though (see above), with the new wing following the same general layout as the version used in Bahrain.

However, it had adaptations to the mainplane, upper flap and endplate transitions in order to lower downforce and drag, while also shifting the DRS delta compared with the wing used in Bahrain.

Furthermore, Red Bull only ran one beam wing element, which not only has direct implications on the downforce and drag being generated but also results in changes to the behaviour of the…