As revealed by Motorsport.com, Red Bull Racing is phasing in a small but significant update package in three steps. In Jeddah, it introduced a few new components and bodywork tweaks, in Miami there are modifications to the floor, and further updates are scheduled for Imola.
According to the FIA's technical document, Red Bull’s Miami package consists of modified floor fences and floor edges – in other words, the tunnel inlets and the contoured flanges along the outside of the floor. Both elements are logically tied to the overall floor design.
Why Red Bull believes this floor update poses "no risk"
Introducing a floor update during a sprint weekend with only one free practice session seems risky, but Red Bull sees it differently.
“We’re trying to address two things,” chief engineer Paul Monaghan told outlets including Motorsport.com behind the Red Bull pit box.
“That’s why we’ve brought it this weekend. The updates are relatively stable and involve little risk. It’s a sprint weekend and this is a good opportunity for us to introduce it.”
The two elements the team is targeting in this update are pure downforce and improved cornering balance. There are overlaps and compromises involved, since a recurring theme of this ground-effect era has been teams finding that cars with high downforce peaks often struggle to sustain those peaks all the way through corners, causing sharp migrations between understeer and oversteer.
