Ted Kravitz backed up the claim made by Lewis Hamilton about the speed of Red Bull cars in the wake of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
It was a walk in the park again for Red Bull in Jeddah, who have enjoyed a near-perfect start to the new Formula 1 season. Only a single point has been dropped by them so far – the fastest lap in the first race which was snatched by Zhou Guanyu on the final lap.
Max Verstappen started 15th on the grid after a mechanical issue in qualifying, but was up to second place by the mid-way point in the race. One of the people he passed in the process was Hamilton, who admitted after the Grand Prix that he hadn't even tried to defend against the extraordinarily speedy Red Bull.
"I have definitely never seen a car so fast," the Mercedes man declared. "When we were fast, we were not that fast. It is the fastest car I have seen, especially compared to the rest. I don't know how, but he came past me with some serious speed and I didn't even bother to block him because there was a massive speed difference."
Speaking on Sky Sports News, pit lane reporter Kravitz concurred with Hamilton's suggestion that the RB19 is the fastest car we've seen in F1 for a long time. Explaining how, he hinted that some of Red Bull's rivals are watching how their DRS system works very closely.
"What Hamilton is referring to is the ease at which Max Verstappen was able to pass him on the straight the moment he opened his rear wing flap," said Kravitz. "So we have this thing called the Drag Reduction System, and that means that on the straight if a car is behind, they can open their rear wing which normally slows the car down, having a rear wing.
"If you put your hand out of your car on a motorway, you can feel the air pressure, the rear wing opens itself up and the airflow goes through and it gives the car a straight-line speed boost, the one car behind it. What Lewis is saying is that you've never seen a car gain quite so much speed by opening its Drag Reduction System, rear wing flap, and he doesn't understand how that's possible.
"There’s lots of technical intrigue in Formula 1. Lots of people will be looking at the Red Bull and saying how are they able to gain nearly 20 miles an hour advantage on the straight from anybody else?
"Are they doing something with that rear wing that not only stalls out the rear wing of course, but also stalls out the floor or other aerodynamics around the car? So that'll be, I'm sure, the latest round of technical intrigue in Formula 1 when we get to the next race in Australia."
