Technical analysis of the Toro Rosso STR14: Honda synergy - Red Bull in the design

Today the new car of the season F1 2019 of Toro Rosso . The new model is called STR14 and will have much more essence of Red Bull than it has had these years ago after the ban of the FIA ​​a few years ago that prevented them from sharing the design to the older brother and small of the energy drinks firm. Now, with the appearance of those B teams as we call them, clietnes like Haas, it seems that the FIA ​​has opened a little more hand and allows sharing parts.

After the teams' queries by > the similarity of the Haas with Ferrari , the FIA ​​considered that everything was correct and therefore did not want to attend to the complaints, which has caused many to consider doing the same to have data from two teams and share technology for benefit from it. This year, the Toro Rosso returns to look a little more like the Red Bull than other years, with the gearbox, rear suspension and the same engine. That should boost them on the grid if Honda has done a good job with their power unit.

The truth is that the Japanese have been working and silent until recently, when they have come to give statements about the technical rules of the FIA ​​, which benefit manufacturers such as Ferrari and Mercedes because there are gaps according to them. This is true, but many have taken those comments as an excuse in case this season the problems return. It should not be like that, and it is supposed to have a very powerful engine, it could even be more than the Renault if the expectations are met and that the reliability will not be all bad ...

We will have to wait to see it, since Red Bull and Renault have passed a crisis and all were negative words for each other. And the way to hurt the gala firm has been to say how bad the Renault engine was and how good the Honda was. Renault has not been left behind and has also been defending itself as news about how good this year's engine will be. We'll see who has to eat the words, because I'm sure that neither the Honda engine is so wonderful nor the Renault either ... Of course if Honda works, McLaren will pull the hair for having lost it, but if it is again a failure, I think Red Bull will not be as calm as Woking's. Very interesting the parody and the season that awaits us with this soap opera.

In the past they have not accepted help from any external counselor, they tried a lot in McLaren and the Japanese refused to accept help. There were several who wanted it but it was not fruitful, and now it has been known a few weeks ago that they also broke with Ilmor and Illien according to rumors of some important media. And it will be true when Helmut Marko himself has come out to say that this issue is being stopped ... I do not know if they will have given in to see the problems and accept help from Red Bull and I hope that, as is rumored, Adrian Newey do not demand too much in dimensions and packaging or new reliability problems will come.

Recall that last year in the GP of Japan (Coincidence? Honda House), of rempente announced in Honda a super improvement with the new SPEC and that also had the famous Party Mode for classification as Mercedes and Ferrari. And it seems that they put everything for qualification and then in the race they cut the power to not break, and since then the Toro Rosso has not been seen ... There are still doubts with the power and reliability that must be cleared soon.It was estimated that Mercedes got about 1005HP, for the 1000HP of Ferrari, with 950HP for Renault and 930HP for Honda. Is it possible that Renault and Honda will change positions this year?

If we stick to what we see of the Toro Rosso in terms of chassis and aerodynamics, we see something very curious. In principle it is assumed that the fences or aerodynamic profiles under the front wing were not allowed or at least limited, and we see that the STR14 has two on each side and a curve in the main plane that we have not seen in other designs, which are quite coarse and straight. The endplates are very simple and the high zone of the aileron complies with the regulations with those 5 planes without any appendix or bulletin about them as the FIA ​​wants for this year. We will see if those flaps under the wing are also incorporated by others or what happens with them.

In addition, the wing already know that it has grown in width, occupying the full width of the car and now presents is aforma arrow with the ends closer to the car than the center. Likewise, the main plane of the aileron is quite narrow, even to the naked eye it seems something finer than Haas's and it is caught to the pillars or supports in a very subtle way, with that peak in the nose typical of these years to let more air flow under the nose and that this travel to the rear area and thus improve the aerodynamics of the vehicle. The nose is quite rounded in terms of the sides, and not very wide like the Mercedes, something that Toro Rosso already copied last year. And if you notice, it has a sharp drop, like Force India last year, making a step just where the suspension supports are anchored.

The front brake lines already know that they are another point that changes this year, and should be to simplify to the maximum. They are very simple, without aerodynamic profiles, only to meet the obligation to cool the brake discs. From this frontal image we can also see the step and the stylized nose, which in principle does not seem to implement the S-Duct solution, although we can see if they incorporate it during the pre-season tests or if it continues like this. They may not need it, as was the case with McLaren that did not show the typical air slot on the nose like other cars ...

The middle zone, is still very complex as is usual in the designs of recent years . But if you look, it only has two aerodynamic profiles similar to those of McLaren last year, very simple hung with a horizontal support of the sidepods . Something strange when they increasingly complicate this area more and more. It was strange to see him last year in the MCL33 and he is still in the new Toro Rosso. On the other hand the pontoons or sidepods yes that have been worked enough, with a design much more stylized and reduced that the past year, as it is a mark of the house in Red Bull but not so frequent in Toro Rosso.

If you look at the image, we see that l os front spoiler supports have holes and extend backwards as invented McLaren and also copied last year Ferrari. This is interesting to generate vortices of air that travel towards the rear area. The McLaren itself rejected it last year and opted for its complex nose that copied several paddock solutions.As for the airbox, it is round and large, with several ducts inside as usual to feed the turbo intake of the engine, refrigerate the intercooler, the oil tank of the gearbox and the ERS.

Returning to the potons, on the side you can also see the work that I mentioned before, and as it seems, they have done a very compact motor packaging. You can see some elevated pontoons with very small openings Ferrari or Red Bull last year, to let more air flow to slide under them to the rear area, and behind the purest style Red Bull super compact. According to the statements of the leaders of the same Red Bull team last year, they said they would not press Honda to reduce the size of the engine , that all they had said was to get power. But the images say the opposite. Has Honda found power without expanding the dimensions of certain engine peripherals? Red Bull lied and yes that has pressed to reduce the size? We'll see, but if it's the second, beware of reliability !!!

The rear area looks a lot like Red Bull , with a somewhat different packaging of the engine, as was the case last year with Renault, which Red Bull placed certain peripherals of the engine different from how the Renault or McLaren team did to be able to compact the rear area much, although they moved cargo to the front area at a height somewhat higher than others seek to lower the center of gravity. But well, each team works with a different philosophy as they deem appropriate.

In addition, we see that there is a bulge in the engine cover in the rear area where the suspensions are anchored rear (remember that shares a gearbox, rear suspension and engine with his older brother Red Bull, so that has developed Red Bull and will be identical). That bulge goes backwards to eject the hot air after having cooled the elements and leaves a channel just below to the upper area of ​​the diffuser so that the flow of air passing there can help extract air under the flat bottom through the diffuser and thus improve the grip or downforce.

The rear spoiler has also grown to become a fairly large wing as required by the new regulations, and in this case, it seems more stylized and not as big as in the Haas. In addition, the main plane is not straight, but it is curved, with a depression in its middle zone to get a better drag/lift commitment (something that several teams have already done and that is nothing new). But the Haas caught my attention because of how big it looked in the photo. Will they have loading problems in the back area like what happened to McLaren last year?

The rear endplates they have been simplified as estimated in the new regulations and can no longer have these profiles in the external zone, although they still keep the cuts in the rear edge as is normal. As for the diffuser, and this is the brand of the house, no team shows it, and all try to hide one of the most powerful weapons that have these cars (we will have images soon). By the way, the halo or we have agreed this year, because we have become accustomed to seeing it and it seems quite normal.We will see if those who are still missing give us some surprise, but for now, they present solutions already seen.