"They look prehistoric": Mercedes and Ferrari's floors compared to Red Bull by Ted Kravitz

TV pundit Ted Kravitz analyzed the Red Bull car’s floor to be more sophisticated than the Ferrari and Mercedes one.

The Sky Sports TV presenter felt the way the crane swung the car after retrieving Sergio Perez's car from FP3 revealed intricate details of the floor.

Analyzing the Red Bull floor from the photographs from Monaco, Kravitz said:

“Thanks to Sergio Perez. The whole of Formula One has seen the fabled Red Bull floor. Go onto the internet and see for yourself, it is a thing of wonder and beauty especially when you compare it to the floor of the Mercedes and the Ferrari, which we also saw up on cranes so we got a full view of it this weekend. They look prehistoric."

"Even the little guide fences have got guide fences of their own on the Red Bull! It’s so complex in three dimensions – not only in elements coming down but then curling round and it’s got circles where the vortex start and then the vortices are generated midway through the floor. Then what they’re doing with the area under the crash structure and the gearbox as well.”

He added:

“I tell you when you look at these pictures and compare them to the Mercedes and Ferrari you think ‘okay, no wonder this Red Bull RB19 is so good’. They’ll hate it of course. But hey blame Sergio Perez, it’s not our fault we can see the pictures of it.”

Kravitz claimed the sophisticated elements on the Red Bull car’s floor made their rival car floors look outdated and bland. Mercedes and Red Bull were unhappy with the way the crane lift the cars and exposed the underside of their car to photographers and the audiences.

Blaming Perez for the exposure, the British TV presenter believes the photographs and imagery of the floor have intrigued a majority of the paddock, exposing key elements. The Mexican had crashed out of the third practice after which his car was extracted from the track by a crane.

---

Red Bull rivals intrigued by their exposed floor design at the Monaco GP

Williams F1's head of vehicle performance Dave Robson believes the Austrian team's RB19 is not a difficult floor to copy despite the 2D images available.

On the other hand, Aston Martin’s performance director Tom McCollough was glad it was not the floor of their car exposed, as the crane in Monaco swung around exposing the floor of the Ferrari, Mercedes, and Red Bull cars.

Commenting on the floor of the Bulls, Robson said:

“It’s so complex that on a 2D photo, because of the way the light is, it’s so curved, you can’t figure any of it out. I guess it’s just coincidental they do it all like that because that’s how they get the downforce. But it doesn’t half make it difficult to copy.”

Commenting on the imagery of the Red Bull floors, Aston Martin’s McCollough said:

“Obviously, there are some great photos! A lot of people were there so I’m sure the aerodynamicists will be having a good look at all the cars that were lifted up. Thankfully, ours hasn’t been lifted up yet. Let’s try and keep it that way!"

"The aerodynamicists never want you to show that. You learn a lot from just even how the plank is wearing. You learn from what’s touching. There’s a lot of very excited aerodynamicists up and down the pit lane looking at all of that.”

The Aston Martin performance director claims that the images revealed enough details that can be replicated. While the images of the RB and Mercedes floor make the rounds on the internet, they have become the intrigue of every aerodynamicist in the paddock.

The floor is an integral part of the ground effect functioning of the new generation cars, making it the most important design of the car concept. Although it will be difficult to replicate the entire floor, the images from Monaco could reveal many details.