Red Bull predict when rivals will copy vital RB19 trick

Red Bull have predicted it could take until the Japanese Grand Prix for rival Formula 1 teams to be able to copy the floor of the RB19.

With seven wins from seven races, the RB19 has proved a formidable machine, with Max Verstappen winning the Spanish Grand Prix by over 24 seconds from Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton.

Much of the advantage comes from the floor and underside of the car, with the first glimpses of this being unveiled after Sergio Perez's car was craned away following his Monaco qualifying crash.

This irked Red Bull, but the team are confident that just because rivals have seen the floor of the car, it doesn't mean that they will be able to copy it instantly.

Until Japan to copy

"It's not great, we don't put our car up [in the air like that] but it has happened, and we'll move on," Chief Engineer Paul Monaghan told media, including RacingNews365.com.

"But there is a phase lag between people seeing it, getting it onto their car and actually going faster with it.

"A better description is that an ignorant copy isn't necessarily going to go faster, it has to integrate. It is not just a bit of floor geometry, but it is certainly sensitive on these cars.

"Don't forget, people carry floors in and out of garages, lift the front of the cars up, so it is not as if it is the first time.

"Our development path is reasonably well laid out in terms of the timings we wish to try to deploy things if they're going to make us go faster.

"If we change someone else's development plan, then we probably increase the phase lag by which they can get it to the car.

"So around about Japan time, we'll see where everybody is, but we've got to maintain our discipline and our development path.

"It's only our car that we can change. We can't influence what those guys do. So, we'll keep plugging away in our own manner and we'll try to be quickest."

Flattered by the copying

Red Bull have dominated the ground effects era of F1, and are well on their way to retaining both championships in 2023.

At the start of last season, there was a variety of different interpretations to the new rules, but most designs have now gravitated towards the Red Bull philosophy.

This is something Monaghan has no problem with, saying even Red Bull have done the same in the past.

"It's a form of flattery isn't it?" he said.

"You go back to 2009, 2010, 2011 or even 2014, we were winning races with an overall similar package to what Mercedes had, so we're not immune to doing it.

"Other people will look at our car and try to, if they think they're going to go faster, take influence from it. It's fine.

"Ask McLaren in 2011, they put their car on the ground, and it was not quick, it then appeared with some exhausts that looked just like ours and it was quite quick.

"It's happened for many years, it will carry on and it is a method of levelling the sport, there are no copyrights, are there?

"I'll take it as flattery, which is very nice."

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