Photographs of the underside of Sergio Perez’s RB19 were widely distributed over the Monaco Grand Prix weekend after the Mexican driver crashed in qualifying.
The shots revealed the level of complexity that Red Bull has put into its floor concept, and were of huge value to rival teams to help them try to catch up with the current world champion squad.
But for Williams, it was the wider aspect of trying to comprehend how Red Bull came up with such a brilliant design that is far more intriguing.
Asked how valuable the photographs were, Williams head of vehicle performance Dave Robson said: “It’s fascinating, definitely. How valuable it is, is a little bit harder to say.
“I know it was a great view that everyone got in Monaco, but I think we’d seen plenty of photos of it prior – even last year – to at least understand that it’s very complicated and you can’t see the details.
“There is very little on an F1 car that aerodynamically, you can just copy. You have to understand what it is doing and make it work for your car, or understand all the other parts that go with it.
“And that floor is just a great example of that. It’s a whole new level on it. So, you’ve somehow got to pick it apart. It’s genuinely difficult to understand how all those curves work in a three-dimensional space – it’s that complicated.
“But I think what is more telling is that there are a few bits you can see what they’re doing geometrically, so you can mock something up, test it and try to understand what it is that they’re trying to achieve and then use it on your car. That’s clear, and everyone will be doing that.
Source: Autosport