RB has disclosed that a flaw in its new floor, introduced as part of an upgrade package for the Spanish Grand Prix, was the key factor behind its recent downturn in performance. The team, which had been a regular points contender early in the season, saw both drivers fail to progress past Q1 in Barcelona, resulting in a points-less finish that Sunday.
Jody Egginton, RB’s technical director, revealed that the floor changes made during the upgrade process inadvertently caused the car’s performance to deteriorate. According to Egginton, the new floor decoupled the car’s balance during cornering and high-speed sections, leading to the unexpected drop in competitiveness.
“We had an update targeting certain benefits,” Egginton told Autosport.com “But it was clear that we hadn’t been able to extract everything from it, and although the load that we anticipated was there, we’d sort of decoupled the car in through-corner and through-speed balance more than we wanted.”
In an attempt to identify the issue, RB conducted a back-to-back test with different parts during the Austrian Grand Prix, utilizing the sprint race format’s extended parc fermé window to gather more data. This experiment helped the team pinpoint the problem and led to the decision to revert to the previous floor configuration for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
Despite the setback, Egginton noted that while some aspects of the new floor were problematic, others were beneficial and will be integrated into future developments. “The floor is a one-piece thing with bits of it we liked, bits of it we didn’t. You don’t get the choice to split it up,” he explained.
Rolling back an upgrade is a natural part of the car development cycle, Egginton emphasized. “Most teams have [rolled back] at one point or another,” he said, adding that it’s a sign of the aggressive development approach RB is taking.
With the upgrade issues now resolved, RB is focused on improving its performance for the second half of the season. The team currently sits sixth in the Constructors’ Championship, holding a narrow lead over Haas in seventh.
Photo from Max Verstappen Instagram
