Red Bull Racing caught SANDBAGGING in Belgian GP?

[@jakebennett-young8862]

I was sat in the Gold 4 grandstand at the entry to Eau Rouge. During every session over the weekend I was surprised just how many sparks were coming off the Red Bulls, compared to all the other cars, as they bottomed out over the apex as the gradient goes from negative to positive. I just assumed it was that they were carrying more speed coming out of T1 down the hill, but if they were running low, that would make a lot more sense. The yellowish build up of plank material on track was cool to see, and not something that had really occurred to me before

[@stevenmoran4060]

Jackie Stewart always said you only have to go fast enough to win. No point pushing hard because the results only state you won, you don’t get more points for a massive margin of victory. He knew a bit about F1!

[@brrrake]

This was back in his days when the cars were fragile. These are not sir Jackie's cars

[@lucde_ville4743]

Jackie Stweard has a lot in common with Johan Cruijff. (You cannot lose a game if your opponent doesn't score, To win te game you only need to make 1 goal more than your opponent, and many many more))

[@jerome8670]

They are sand bagging beyond …. They’ve so much performance and don’t want the fia to come for them

[@CharlesFreck]

@@brrrake Max got 2 DNFs at the start of the last year and it looked like he might not even be in championship contention. These cars aren't as fragile, but they're not your mum's camry either.

[@traviss9059]

@@brrrake I don't see this as a fragility question and more of a future performance question. Right now you have teams chasing Red Bull for the better car in 2024 (there's no beating them this year), as far as all the other teams are concerned they are trying to make a car better than what Red Bull is doing right now...but what if this isn't Red Bulls final form. GP's entire job is to stop Max from showing all the other teams what the RB19 is actually capable of cause lets face it right now Max could win with Ferrari's engineers singing Italian opera to him over the radio for the entire race.

[@fogle429]

“Use your head” was definitely a team order and not a psych up for Max as I’ve seen others suggest. Question is, what was the order? Great analysis

[@myka4337]

Teams always have debriefs and race strategy reviews before the race, so it likely had to do with something that was previously discussed.

[@brrrake]

Lifting off thru turn 2/3 as I suggested in the video 😅

[@GamingPerks]

Order 66. But yeah, probably the lifting on some corners.

[@Sterredus]

@@brrrake the only thing I'm wondering is why are they so secretive about it? Why not just say lift off turns 2/3 instead of this "use your head" thing? Did they think they could get extra inspections if anyone/the FIA got wind of it or did they just not want to go through the hassle of having to explain it in the media or something?

[@Mandykiss4500]

@@SterredusF1 Teams use code during Races, completely normal

[@hifriend7581]

These stats just makes F1 more fun for me. Knowing the different struggles to keep everything from mechanic to driver as in place as possible and not just repeating the same win every weekend. This is what DTS should’ve been, deep dive into mechanics and strategist. Can’t wait for the next video Blake🎉

[@patricio-gomez1]

100%

[@davidaugustofc2574]

@Benjamin-iz8qn Allah is a woman

[@AdaptivePhenix]

You are the kind of people that I'd like to hang out with while watching a race 👍 The few that I know are too focused on the drivers and their personality traits. It's racing _teams_ vs racing _teams_ 👍 DTS would never cover these aspects because they realise that most of the viewers wanna see driver/manager conflict....dumbf**ks 😁

[@RobletoYT]

groundbreaking stuff

[@Ticklestein]

More like skidbreaking stuff 👀

[@sanka2000]

The real Sherlock Holmes 😊

[@mrj3217]

Not really, why do you think Red Bull has the ability to make their tires last so much longer. Also if you are out front by a safe margin why keep pushing any more than you have to? You need to be on the limit and when you this fast it becomes safe just riding and you save equipment.

[@FatherWaffle]

Doesn’t have to be groundbreaking to be interesting

[@sandycheeks5955]

@@mrj3217sarcasm, brotha, give it a google

[@Frednoizz]

This actually makes a lot of sense, good analysis! Also listen to Checo's post race interview, he literally says: 'we were a little bit aggressive with the car set up, not having any practice and we had to bring the car home' . Says it all doesn't it?

[@brrrake]

Yep...

[@QuotidianStupidity]

@Benjamin-iz8qngive it a rest

[@eco_logic]

it might also been the reason Max got bounced of the curb and almost lost it there

[@mhaiqalms]

​@Benjamin-iz8qnpls dont do this ok Making irrelevant reply about islam on f1 posts/comment isnt gonna be good in fact opposite I'm a moslem too

[@CaptainMarci104]

@Benjamin-iz8qn In the name of his noodly appendage, I invite you to worship thy flying spaghetti monster alone, so say: Thy noodle come, Thy sauce be yum, on top some grated Parmesan. Give us this day, our garlic bread…and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trample on our lawns. And lead us not into vegetarianism, but deliver us some pizza, for thine is the meatball, the noodle, and the sauce, forever and ever. R'Amen.

[@pedrobelo0454]

Its a great explanation, it would look suspicious rb being 1.5 sevonds faster than everybody. I would love to see a video of you explaining max vs checo driving style and how max is so much quicker comparing this last few races. Great content!

[@CarlosVS]

Yes please

[@NagoDagoe]

Also, Max can drive very consistent. Like a robot dude

[@feedcentral6854]

Max is really good with managing over/understeer with the benefit of greater straight line speed. Max is able to drive the RB much closer to the edge than Checo because Checo prefers a setup with greater handling capabilities.

[@Yahniboy]

Everyone is saying Perez is being hampered either by nit driving the same spec car as Verstappen or told to slow down managing the pace by his engineer who takes order from Verstappen’s engineer and Max just not listening and goes fast no matter what they tell him. I can believe Pérez is 22 second’s slower by end of the race. Can you explain in a video since you have the telemetry and radio

[@TheRealMichaelAndretti]

@@Yahniboy easy-peasy.. Checo not fast like Max!

[@zelaicrespo1459]

Could it be that max wanted to set a good lap in the last stint so if there was no option for the others to change tyres at the end he had that extra point secured? Glad to see you doing well Blake, you help me a lot with these videos

[@86niisan8686]

he did... he didnt just want to, he attempted it albeit on fairly used tires on which he then had to drive another 8-10 laps. problem was, max soft tyres were halfway through if i remember correctly, they werent fresh but werent old yet either. max was pushing a bit to widen the gap, but his tires were no longer in the optimal window for quickest lap. he even considered a 22-25 second gap to perez for a new pitstop, but that wasnt feasable because im pretty sure perez was ready and able to go a full 2 seconds faster as soon as max neared 22 seconds, so perez would be ahead and max would then have to fight his teammate the last 2-3 laps

[@st3althyone]

Max got his last set of softs in lap 30 and they new they would last about 15 laps max on their car. Max was hoping to keep his blistering pace until the end and use up his softs, that’s why he had asked for a new set of tires. Max’s race engineer Lambiase told Max a pit stop was not happening even though Max had plenty of gap to Checo and even more to Leclerc. Still Max was able to extend his softs all the way to the end even while maintaining a pretty good pace and not allowing the rest of the field to catch up. Knowing Max he didn’t want to leave any points on the table. I’m sure he was pissed Hamilton was able to take the fastest lap from him in the end with a switch to medium rubber on the penultimate lap.

[@Croga]

@@86niisan8686 No one considered an extra stop for Max. He already confirmed that that was just a joke and a psych-out to his team. And as the video says; he didn't attempt to get a fastest lap. He just pushed a bit to get more room but that's it. He did it on his outlap (which can by sheer definition never be a fastest lap) and the one after that.

[@spaceli0n]

@Benjamin-iz8qn Allah is evil

[@seans7788]

Don’t wish him well, he’s a worthless meat rider like Jordan

[@seansafc89]

Great video as always! Hamilton's outlap prior to his fastest lap was pretty interesting too. He was driving it like a quali-warm up lap, especially in sector 3 where he dropped to 50% throttle around Blanchimont vs 100% on his other out-laps.

[@pr3cious193]

Yeah i noticed he lost like 3 seconds on that outlap to Alonso

[@Evative]

​​@@pr3cious193he didn't want verstappen to get the grand chelam😂

[@seeyouaunty]

He was likely fully charging his battery on the outlap, that always costs a few seconds

[@dylanzrim3635]

Yeah because 100% throttle through there on new tyres makes them not new anymore plus he likely needed a gap

[@JukarTazaniaMan]

@@Evative gotta lead every lap to be a grand chelem anyway

[@TheZanzaroni]

This explanation is brilliant, you could even see the RB scraping the tarmac on every shot of the Eau Rouge - Raidillion complex it participated in!

[@dylanzrim3635]

Watch every year. There’s ALWAYS big scrapes out of the track surface there. And it’s nearly every team

[@everydaydose7779]

Red Bulls are high rake cars and also had an even more agressive setup that race So bottoming out and damaging the floor and stressing the tyres were a concern for the team Plus the lead was also huge and the team wanted to save the gearbox and engine lifetimes

[@jordiramirez405]

@@everydaydose7779there’s pretty much no rake in these cars compared to the previous generation

[@vinnie4v277]

​@Benjamin-iz8qnSay wallah

[@happyjoyjoy6976]

@Benjamin-iz8qn can you ask Allah who will win the drivers championship next year please?

[@stevePDx]

50 seconds in front of Lecrerc? Holy hell! Great analysis man, I didn't drift off while listening like most other tech analysts. You'd be an amazing guest lecturer haha

[@nFINITELooP]

If you remember, Max almost lost the rear one in Eau Rouge because the car was bottoming out. I think your theory about the ride height setup is right.

[@abexuro]

Great vid! These are the kind's of insights only someone like you an engineer would find. Awesome work!

[@voidboi736]

@Benjamin-iz8qn 😐

[@HardcoreQtip]

Great video. And a very interesting analysis. Even if none of your hypotheses are true, the fact that both Red Bull drivers were lifting through Eau Rouge is noteworthy and gives more context to the strange radio messages we heard throughout the race.

[@hash00ify]

Ahh yes it's that time when I thought that I knew something about the race turns out to be completely fraudulent. Love these videos!

[@manuelight]

same

[@cassandrarose2108]

People are trying too hard to say RB is cheating. I guess your team is not doing so hot.😢

[@hash00ify]

@@cassandrarose2108 huh? Not a word in my comment points to any specific team. I am a Max fan FYI, not sure why you thought I am not

[@Senny_V]

@@cassandrarose2108 You know they said that their assumption about the race was fraudulent, i.e., wrong, not that they thought any team was fraudulent, right? "That time when I thought I knew something about the race turned out to be fraudulent" does not mean "Omg Red Bull is cheating", maybe don't get so triggered by the f-word immediately

[@Salty0]

Fraudulent for lifting and coasting because they have the luxury?

[@Sterredus]

Nice video! Thanks for diving into it! I noticed GP said 'use your head' way to often and at weird times to only mean that. But I (apparently stupidly) did think they were sandbagging so they were telling Max to slow down😅. Thanks for the clarification/more intelligent speculation.

[@Progcross98]

If you rewatch the race, I noticed that in a lot of the shots of Eau Rouge, the Red Bull was the only one that I noticed was sparking and bottoming out in the right hander to climb up the hill... I think you're spot on!

[@Gnrnrvids]

Yeah Kym Illman was saying that the redbulls were generating the most sparks

[@IAmKry]

Easily the most informative videos of the weekend. Keep up the good work, man.

[@lucasmolina6161]

Amazing that you know about this issue, 2 months before Leclerc and Hamilton got disqualified for this

[@selder_7]

Given the danger, think it’s absolutely the right call to not go flat out through turns 2-3 if you can do so without losing ground. Just removes so much risk of getting it wrong by a tiny margin and being wiped out

[@farrisbass]

I think it could be important to note that throughout the season the red bull has sparked the most, indicating higher skid wear, through eau rouge they’re basically sparklers

[@AgneDei]

Albon was saying that he had a big problem with tire management, and that once they got too hot, there was no place for him to cool them down without loosing places, so while the car is different, the tires and conditions were the same, so this rbr lifting might have been indeed meant for staying on the safe side of tire wear while still leaving decent potential for more push if needed. So in other words - sandbagging.

[@deladuna]

First time on your channel, instant sub. Great job on a more technical analysis, yet easy to understand. Seems to me your channel is a good addition to the more casual approaches by P1 and Tommo!

[@deladuna]

@Benjamin-iz8qn I can't find his subscribe button so I'll have to pass!

[@DmanDaks]

I was wondering what that radio message was about. 😅 Also explains why max got to the front so quickly. I had no doubt that he was going to pass Perez but it shocked me how quickly he got the job done.

[@DmanDaks]

@Benjamin-iz8qn MashAllah!

[@nemopotato4212]

Because Perez wasn't pushing. He always maintained the gap to Leclerc. Even when Leclerc got closer, Perez pushed and increased the gap almost a second.

[@horvatdavid9257]

Best f1 content on KZbin by a mile, i hope you get the views and recognizion you deserve

[@TheBest14184]

I swear 90% of these comments didn’t even watch the video, or just completely misunderstood it…

[@Nafoon21]

This is insight coming from a man who has not only worked with Red Bull, but Max and GP specifically. Great insight yet again and as always. Easiest sub decision I've made in a long long time.

[@SmOgER10]

It's worth pointing out that Eau Rouge is probably the toughest section on tires from all of the tracks. That's because of the loads you're putting through the tires by changing direction twice AND going uphill at the same time. Saving the tires here is actually not far fetched, even if it means you're losing lap-time. With worn tires you would lose much more than this controlled lift. And if your car is more than fast enough for a 1-2 finish with ridiculous speed trap advantage, this would make even more sense.

[@alpha007org]

One speculation from me. Fuel loads. You're going uphill the entire first sector. If they calculated wrong fuel because of wet conditions prior, saving fuel going uphill is the most efficient method at Spa. I know from Rosberg that you have fuel target on your display on the wheel and that you're managing fuel in every race. "Use your head" with all that in mind, plus maybe something we don't know (car setup / ride height), and everything start to make more sense.

[@timvanoers4023]

Its easy flat on the wet meaning it is very far from the limit of the car/tyre in dry condition. When you are that far from the limit when taking it flat im not sure its very heavy on the tyres

[@timvanoers4023]

And the straight is very long past that corner so the tyre saving that you might do from lifting is most likely not worth the lap time loss

[@alpha007org]

@@timvanoers4023 You are not eating tires in sector 1, you're getting all that time back in S2 and S3. So why wouldn't you save tires and fuel at the easiest place on the track?

[@brrrake]

You wouldn't save tyres in eau rouge for the reason I mentioned in the video

[@aasthamahajan7274]

Coming back to this video to understand why Charles and Lewis were disqualified.

[@TheBest14184]

Yep I’m pretty convinced you’re right on this one Blake. I watched Peter Windsor’s race breakdown where he mentioned how much max was lifting off in Eau Rouge to save tyres, which made no sense to me, for exactly the reasons you mentioned. To me lifting off in Eau Rouge only makes sense if you’re being cautious with the amount of bottoming. I hadn’t connected with dots with the radio messages, but the tone and use of “use your head” makes a lot more sense now.

[@keyurunadkat]

Well i think your conclusion is true as F1 photographer Kym Illman mentioned that Redbulls were the most sparking cars out on track (mostly at Eurouge).

[@ckronenwetter]

This breakdown is awesome, I love the 3D chess behind the scenes in F1

[@mohammadhosainusofimotlagh6168]

Intresting. I think also one thing we should remember is that in these ground effect cars 2mm of ride height change has a pretty significant effect on the car's downforce. You could say Redbull had more pace than they showed, but other teams who were running their cars so high that the plank wear was no issue for them also would've had a lot of laptime left on the table, which they couldn't find because of the washout in one and only practice session. Maybe it was that 2mm which gave Redbull most of that advantage in sector 2. I heard last year that was the reason why Ferrari were so slow last year at Spa, because the car was hitting the ground so much in eau rouge that forced them to raise the car a lot and lose so much downforce, which meant they were very slow in Quali and the Race. Ofcourse i didn't exactly know about the plank wear thing at the time, so thanks a lot.

[@mohammadhosainusofimotlagh6168]

@Benjamin-iz8qn i'm Muslim bro 🤣

[@lemat8558]

This season the tech analysis have been far more interesting than the races (for number one!). It's way up and beyond my pay grade, but still makes a lot of sense. Good delivery.

[@MrMezmerized]

Good stuff. It also explains why Max's engineer still wanted him to go easier on the tyres after his fastest lap, even though he was quite a lot slower. Seems that GP thought Max was still pushing too hard in the middle sector. Max was right though. He kept a very steady pace and his tyres lasted to the end just fine.

[@Socaltrainwatcher]

Great video. Your explanation of why the Red Bulls were lifting is "backed up" by the unscientific observation of Kym Illman, an F1 photographer, who said that the Red Bulls were throwing up the most sparks on this turns. He likes to shoot photos of the cars going away from him in that section of the course because of the sparks they throw up.

[@b1air77]

really cool analysis.I feel like I have a better understanding of all the telemetry graphs I see thanks to your breakdowns.

[@brrrake]

This makes me really happy!

[@bluemarks_]

Very interesting video. Actually a Latin American journalist said that Checo mentioned the floor height since Friday.

[@ralphdebono658]

You lift through eau rouge cause you have both massive lateral and VERTICAL load on the tyres. So it makes sense for drivers to save tyres through that corner by lifting, and then utilise the tyres more in sector two to claw back time. No sandbagging, just tyre management

[@brrrake]

You can save substantially more tyre energy in sector 2 for minimal laptime loss.

[@cjck13]

so cool. and it adds up that verstappen wasn’t lifting through eau rouge during the first stint since he was trying to catch up and win

[@lucasmonteiro9886]

I would LOVE to see Max get an engine replacement at Monza to start at the back and OBLITERATE the field in a race for the history books. Literally a last-to-first challenge in real life. We all know he can pull this off.

[@PeterJavi]

He still has a few more grid positions to win from. 20th through 15th, 13th, 12 and 11th and weirdly enough, 8th and 5th. 8th I can see happen if he qualifies 3rd and takes a minor penalty, 5th I just don't see happen this season, because even if he doesn't try, he won't get lower than 3rd.

[@STFP88]

@@PeterJavi Indeed i just dont see him losing in qualis though!

[@pauls5745]

and do it from the PIT Lane! that'd be so awesome. but nobody wants to make a any win harder by choice

[@ramontitmarsh306]

Yeah he is in the history book as F1’s biggest ever cheat and clearly the cheater is still cheating unless it quit but no likely really is it FACT

[@Addyboy0190]

I subscribe to both PW and your assessment, it's mix of conserving the tire energy in sector 1 to maximize sector 2 and since RB generate their downforce through suction via their floors they can run lower for the grip without sacrificing their top speed so again not maximizing sector 1 to destroy everyone in sector 2, that sector 2 time comparison PW showed is really an eye opener how Max made 22s over Perez

[@knowntobehonest]

Peter Windsor said that Max went slower through au rouge and Radillion because the corner in combiation with the compression is hard on tyreware.

[@brrrake]

That is not where the tyre wear is.

[@Ticklestein]

Normally they always say “head down” or “keep your head down” I think that I only heard GP say that during the Sprint, during race it was “use your head”. I concur on skid theory, either that, or it’s some form of wear reduction strategy, as it was a new gearbox, or sandbagging for the (tr/l)olz.

[@TheBest14184]

Exactly. The fact GP said “use your head” multiple times in the race, when I’ve NEVER heard him say that before tells me it specifically meant something. It also explains why GP sounded quite stern about it, Max knows his tyres, he doesn’t need GP telling him off like that, however, there no way Max can get a sense of level of plank car while driving the car, that’s where GP steps in.

[@nkkromhof]

This is why we love your videos, great stuff!

[@JacobGadzella]

I think what you said at the end is really important: they aren't just trying to make the car as fast as possible, they need to win and they want to be dominant but they will also need to use these cars for the rest of the season and the less they have to fix the cars or replace burnt out parts the better it will be for them.

[@Real_ghostboi]

The reason why they lift through Eau Rouge and Raidillon is because these Pirelli tires are pretty good at handling lateral load, but they aren't built to withstand the vertical loads that are experienced throughout that area of the track. So going slower through Eau Rouge is better if you want to extend tyre life than going slower through turn 10 for example. That's why turn 3 (the infamous banked corner) and turn 14 (the last corner) at Zandvoort are particularly hard on the tires, due to the banking characteristic of the corners. In these corners, the tires are subject to a lot of vertical load (relatively speaking) which these tires don't seem to handle that well in comparison with lateral loads. Edit: added the Zandvoort example.

[@brrrake]

Please elaborate.

[@Real_ghostboi]

@@brrrake When cars go through Eau Rouge, the tracks suddenly switches from downhill to uphill. The moment this change in vertical direction happens, the tires are subject to a lot of vertical compression and G-forces. The Pirelli tires aren't very good at handling these specific types of forces and stress. Pirelli tires are good at dealing with load through 'normal' flat corners where the tires only have to deal with side-to-side lateral load, but they aren't good at dealing with vertical compression that shows up when the track suddenly and violently goes from downhill to uphill. In short: vertical load typically causes more tire wear than lateral load due to the manner in which these tires are constructed. I'm not an expert in this field by any means and I don't know that much about all of this to be honest. I can only recall what I've learned from Peter Windsor. I would encourage you to look at this video by Peter Windsor to see what I'm talking about for yourself (from 5:05 up to 5:29): kzbin.info/www/bejne/enuzaJR9mM5gbc0 I thought he made another comment in another video of his on this subject where he goes a little bit more in depth but I couldn't find it.

[@mgers75]

It's just speculation but you literally were doing this for RB as a job a few years ago, so I think this is a very good hypothesis!

[@gerardvanwinssen7958]

Now Max's big moment on Eau Rouge makes sense too, he lost grip because the car was bottoming out due to too low ride height

[@WorshipLeaderHangout]

Kym Illman did say the Redbulls were sparking the most this past weekend.

[@TheRealMichaelAndretti]

Most excellent analysis, i noticed RB sparking the most of any car during the race at the compression, this is an awesome analysis, bro, you earned your coffee again!! 🎉🎉🎉

[@6root91]

Thanks for this interesting perspective into the race dude. Often times, all the telemetry data and statistics just don't get conveyed to the average F1 viewer and it's certainly quite an enthralling part of the sport. Sam Collins does have his unique technical insight shows, and your channel seems to complement that quite nicely- from less of an officially F1 organised way..

[@eric-ab7692]

I think they are sand bagging in order to prevent the fia intervening such as regulations that could damage their pace

[@brrrake]

FIA are now aware, then. 🤣

[@turbo_brian]

I could honestly see them sandbagging. If they won by a full minute or more that will just motivate the fia to make changes sooner. It's dumb that they try to peg teams back for doing a good job, but the fact is they do.

[@ericvanderlaan4324]

We were watching the race from the Kemmel straight and I remember saying to my son that both LEC and HAM were passing at higher rpm than both RB's😊

[@xXUnoriginalNameXx33Meygaera]

Could be explained by different gear ratios, but it likely was because they were lifting.

[@Miked5]

Spot on. I was sat at the bottom of Eau Rouge and Max was the only car sparking during the right hander during the race.

[@Yahniboy]

Why wasn’t Perez ‘ car not sparking? Higher rude height means less downforce on his car Hmm

[@Miked5]

@@Yahniboy I guess Perez lifted most laps and maybe verstappen didn’t

[@bryanwilliams4620]

Max also had that moment in eau rouge, maybe something with setup like you say.

[@Baer1990]

7:23 I remember one scene where Verstappen made a big yellow stripe on the track in au rouge and another car following didn't even have a single spark

[@playr4]

What a time to discover a fun new technical F1 channel. I've got the whole summer break to binge through your videos for this season.

[@vertsabre]

the big thing with 2-3 is the vertical load on the tires, that is a major factor compared to other turns on the track

[@brrrake]

How much?

[@JasperMulder100]

Kym Illman (an accredited F1 photographer) noted in his latest youtube video "LEWIS HAMILTON umbrella DRAMA at the 2023 BELGIAN" @8:56 mentions: "And who sparked the most ... the Red Bull typically"" So your plank theory/ride height has merit. And the sparking he mentioned was relate to Eau Rouge.

[@snakebitten6967]

Occasionally Razor my friend. This was sandbagging. The RB is so far ahead of everyone they can afford to lift and still win easily. Like Jackie Stewart said, you just have to drive fast enough to win. Why risk damaging the car/engine by pushing hard on every track when you can drive 7/10’s and easily whoop everyone? your analysis was great and just proves how OP RB is. As long as one team continues to be OP, F1 will be boring for lots of fans. Zero competition or adversity makes for a very boring product. Here’s another thought. F1 powers that be know the RB is OP and know they will lose fans since there is zero competition or question who will win. So they give RB the mandate to slow down to create the illusion that they are just a bit faster than everyone else due to Max skill and not the OP nature of the car. That makes sense as lots of fans hated Merc and Lewis for dominating for almost 10 years. They claimed it was due to OP car and not Lewis skill. This analysis clearly shows how OP the RB is in the hands of any one.

[@debabratnath2963]

It’s totally different having your perspective. So detailed analysis. Where are the rest of the F1 world at? Get him more subs❤

[@currentandcombustion]

Your videos are constantly getting better man! I need to up my game when I'm back next week! Keep it up, this information and insight is so unique I love it!

[@currentandcombustion]

@Benjamin-iz8qn Newey, I think you mean worship Newey.

[@jamescrank736]

Great analysis, i was confused as to what Max was on about on the radio

[@Koru-Health]

The GP to Max messages referenced in the video @4:43 were referring to pitting. Perez was pitting and Max was asking if both cars were pitting.

[@brrrake]

:) Check the radio transcripts for the race

[@Daaell]

You can actually see during the race that mostly the Redbull cars were throwing sparks.

[@snehalsexpeditions]

This is amazing mate, what a great analysis for all those who were hooked up only to the radio messages between GP n Max. Job well done 💯👍

[@marksanyal]

Other F1 channels: Radio bickering causes new bickering in Red Bull Brrrake F1: Seeing this argument? Red Bull is hiding a sandbagging secret! Love the analysis and puts more of the race into context.

[@robgraham5016]

YUP I think you hit the nail on the head! As soon as you said they were lifting at Au Rouge, I thought of plank wear! I've been watching F1 long enough to remember when Schumie got disqualified for plank wear and I also watched Kym Illman's video where he said that the Red Bulls were sparking (bottoming-out) the most of every team at that part of the track. Plus you could see the brownish line all the way through that area of the track from planks scraping the track.

[@SlidesLikeAGirl]

I really agree with your analysis, I was super lucky to be at the grand prix and noticed that the redbull sparked at eau rouge 10x as much as the next most sparky car as well. The only car that was throwing half as many sparks was the mclaren of piastri. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a ride height set up making them lift.

[@zestylem0n]

Regardless if it was for sandbagging or not, crazy that RB can afford to drop half a second per lap and still be leagues faster than the rest.

[@idoobedumbedoo]

I was wondering why Max was asking if both cars 'are doing it'. Doing what!? Now this make sense. Thanks!

[@adityaram1101]

Actually he joked about are we both using our brains

[@lucek989]

Hi Blake, love the video, great analysis from you as always. Could you set the noise gate on your mic to be slightly less aggressive? It currently has a really quick attack and it's cutting out the onset of some of the words you're saying. Just a minor thing that probably nobody but me is going to notice.

[@brrrake]

I've fixed it. I don't know what changed 😭😭

[@brrrake]

Thank you!

[@JoaoSilva-on4od]

Here I was thinking I was really clever as I was so confident of Explanation 3... and then you presented 4, and it made total sense. It really connects all the dots. Great analysis and very well presented. You just got yourself a new subscriber.

[@atatoraman9257]

The sparks coming off of the Redbulls during qualifying suggest that there might be floor issues, I suppose that the fuel tank is empty-ish when they are doing push laps. Hear me out, Redbull is known for running very low car setups this year, with an excellent floor and with a full fuel load, it might make sense that they decided an upwards accelerating corner like eau rouge might be a good place to lift. Let's discuss this! Love the channel, its so valuable to have a Redbull engineer talk us through some of the data. You are amazing, keep up the good work!

[@atatoraman9257]

Nevermind you already had it! Great analysis, Aerospace Engineer here. Cheers!

[@D4H8able]

There is a video where u can so how, much the RB touches the ground through Eau Rouge and the sparks really fly. Other then the RB, the Mercedes was the only other car, that was showing sparks going through that corner. So maybe these two teams, ran their cars a little bit lower compared to the others and they therefore wanted to protect the skid blocks by reducing the load there.

[@ItzMav]

because of the summer break i always dive into the archive of f1 and watched the 2004 australian grand prix, at the end of the grand prix i think around 5 laps left schumacher had a gap of 50 seconds to alonso and i think 25 to barrichello, after the 4/5 lap mark, schumacher went considerably slower, around 4 to 5 seconds a lap slower than barrichello and it immediately reminded me of spa this year but now in a more subtle way.

[@TazTweetin]

Thanks

[@brrrake]

Hi TazTweetin - thanks so much!!!

[@fhwolthuis]

Very nice explanation! According to Peter Windsor, Pirelli had said that Eau Rouge was pretty harsh on the tires because of lateral and vertical load. He suggested that that was the reason they eased off in s1 and s3.

[@brrrake]

It's not compared to S2 👍

[@Pascaffa]

well, the best part to know is the only reason for RB not being more dominant in the main race, is because of rain, and the sprint weekend format.

[@R36613]

Good insight. I search for good f1 information and coverage. This is the in depth coverage I want. Most channels blab about nonsense or embellish stories.

[@riaanstrydom6549]

also remember - Max did not lift the 1st section and was after the first stop informed the tyres were not that great, could it be that he lifted in the other stints to save the tyres

[@TheFactsSpeaker99]

Blake talks for 2-3 mins. Me: HULK SMASH (subscribe button). Man, I love in depth explanations about F1 and other stuff. As an Engineer (Software in my case tho), it's fascinating!

[@ZipperZbieracz]

I wouldn't call it sandbagging if they had to lift off to avoid excessive plank wear in T2 to avoid a DSQ, since it was a consequence of their car setup/very low ride height. They gained some in S2 with extra downforce, but had to sacrifice S1 to avoid a DSQ.

[@brrrake]

Agreed!

[@RW_CreativeMedia]

_"...Use your head..."_ That seems like a code that not even NASA could have deciphered.

[@tobiaszund3134]

I was at Eau Rouge on Friday and the Red Bull was the only car that created massive sparks lap after lap…

[@CaribbeanSnowStorm]

I honestly feel like i learned more from this short vid than those hour long post race analysis'! Just found your channel... insta-subbed! 🔥

[@sundaydriver15]

When I first heard the "Use your head/ Are we both using it?" convo, I thought Max was being cheeky and asking GP if they are both using their heads (thinking)

[@kylecamerer]

Great breakdown. Another theory I'd like to throw out - 1) what if it's a g-force thing that negatively affects their fuel delivery - RB have been known to be particularly tricky with their fuel delivery systems in the past... 2) and more logical in my mind - Eau Rouge is a high-risk section that they don't need to be taking that risk of losing the car, so perhaps it's just a risk management deal knowing that they had and could maintain a commanding lead.

[@brrrake]

That's a really interesting suggestion, but here's what I can offer you about that. Fuel pickup tends to be an issue at very hot events where the fuel starts to vaporise and the lift pumps start to struggle to move the fuel to the collector. If there is a fuel tank design issue, the lift pumps may not be able to get to the fuel during sustained corners. But let's say there's a reasonable reduction momentarily in vertical G due to cresting a hill. The collectors are usualy between 1 and 3 liters... the fuel flow is about 0.034 liters per second (best guess at 100kg/hr to liters per second). Maybe if this showed up LATE in the race only, but it was a topic from the start of the race. I don't think Eau Rouge is particularly high risk unless side-by-side. T9 and T10 were a lot more problematic for most 😅 BUT we never know.

[@ThePippin89]

I'm glad you said that sandbagging was a stupid suggestion. Firstly there are only 2 reasons to sandbag in a race, 1) so the FIA don't ban something you have, or 2) so other teams think they have less time to close and you've got time in the bag once they find that. However, if either of those were the reason, they're not doing enough. Not by a long way. Tyre management still seems plausible to me. You showed that they could do it in turn 10 too but they're still faster, but the throttle trace did still show they were lifting more than Hamilton through there too. They're just naturally quick enough to stay quicker there too. But yes, ride height does seem equally as plausible and the turn 10 lift would explain that too.

[@derekmccord3798]

Yeah the plank, don't forget Schumacher got excluded in 1994 at Spa for the plank.

[@boon240]

This weekend is the first time I've heard GP repeat the same lines throughout the whole race.

[@BeeTB1]

Great content. Subbed

[@demonmonsterdave]

It's called helmet braking. By repositioning his posture, the driver can change the drag coefficient over the top and sides of his helmet. When Perez complains that his brakes are not responsive enough, they tell him to use his head. Easy.

[@brrrake]

🤣🤣

[@JeLifeCoach]

Your content is so good - you don’t need Clickbait titles.

[@brrrake]

Yep. I do 😅

[@alucarddk1990]

F1 photographer Kym Illman was taking pictures through Eau Rouge and said the Red Bull was creating the most sparks of all. Supports your theory.

[@yogishnn1945]

After watching this video, I watched both Max and Checo's onboards and listened to their radio and I think your analysis is right.

[@simonmanchester84]

Great explaination, and something the FIA should pay close attention to in the next few races. Here is my theory that could add something to this - could it have also been a little bit of fuel saving? Knowing that SPA was an easy track to overtake on with their DRS advantage, and deliberatly taking a 5 place penalty for replacement parts, were they running in a higher engine mode to ensure Max qualified as high up the order as possible as to not drop down too far? With the rule change to engine modes requiring same modes to be used in the race as in qualifying I can see teams using a more aggressive engine map and then managing their fuel usage during the race to compensate. Also they suspected rain and assumed less time on full throttle would be needed? I suspect the bulls and ferrari in particular do this a lot more than the others knowing that track position is so important in F1 these days - Leclerc even admitted to fuel saving at the end if I recall correctly.

[@JM_daDoc]

It's explained by Peter Windsor as well that Max was focusing on section 2 of the track... Besides, the narrator forgets that these Pirelli tires react less predictable on heavy vertical loads.