Since the start of F1’s regulation overhaul of 2022, teams have been keen to keep the designs of their ground-effect floors a closely guarded secret, with engineers estimating as much as 60 percent of car performance is now gener﷽ated by the largely hidden aerodynamic features. 

But over the course of the weekend in Monaco, everyone was treated to an infrequent opportunity to get a good look at an area of the cars not normal🐲ly seen t♔hanks to the circuit’s unique nature.

The first instance occurred after 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Lewis Hamilton crashed his Me𒉰rcedes a𓄧t Mirabeau in the closing stages of final practice. 

When his car was lifted high into the Monaco sky 🧔by a crane - rather than being put onto the back of a flatbed truck - the heavily-upgraded W14’s floor was completely exposed and left to the mercy of photograp🍷hers. 

That led Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff to joke that the crane operator must have come from the famed 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Cirque du Soleil as he admitted the unintended rꦇeveal was “suboptimal”. 

Just hours later, the underbody of Red Bull’s dominant RB19 was shown to the world following 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Sergio Perez’s qualifying shunt. 

Mercedes’ Andrew Shovlin said F1 teams will෴ be “all over” photographs of the 2023 Red Bull to try and spot any features they might have missed.

“I suspect they’re probably more annoyed at their car being𝓰 left in the sky than we would be about ours,” Shovlin added.&nb༺sp;

Aston Martin performance director Tom McCullough said the exp🍎osure of the RB19 would provide teams with useful information. 

Red Bull’s floor

— Christian Falavena (@CFalavena)

“Obviously, there are some great photos,” he said. “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 leဣarn from what’s touching.

“There’s a lot o🌼f very excited aerodynamicists up and down the🐟 pitlane looking at all of that.”

So are Red Bull the biggest losers from their floor beingℱ displayed to prying eyes?

Not according to team principal Christian Horner, who insisted he isn’t bothered that rivals got the chance to check out a seldom-seen are🏅a of their car. 

“It’s very rude🌳 to look up people’🦄s skirts,” Horner joked as he brushed off concerns about Red Bull’s secrets being revealed. 

“It’s been a bit of a show and tell for all🌞 the teams this weekend,” he added. “Everybody’s been up in the air at some point. So it’s the same for everyone.

“Pictures of floors get taken in and around the paddock. They arrive in vans, they work with the cars, the shutters are up. Each team will be employing spy ওphotographers to get pictures of the cars when they’re in parts and pieces. So that’s common practice.

“I wouldn𒉰’t have thought it’s the first pictꦍure of the floor. It’s probably the first time it’s been suspended from a crane. But all teams are always striving for that intelligence.”

Williams’ head of vehicl𓆉e performance Dave Robson also downplayed the usefulness of the images. 

Robson pointed out that due to the sophistication of Red Bull’s floor layout, i🐽t will be hard to repliꦅcate by other teams. 

And then there is the added factor of the 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:F1 cost cap - set at $135m for 2023 - to take into consi🎉deration.&nbs🐈p;

“It’s so complex that on a 2D photo, because of𝓀 the way the light is, it’s so curved, you can’t figure any of it out,” Robson explained. 

“I guess it’s just coincidental they do it all like that because that’s how they get the d🐓ownforce. But it doesn’t half make it difficult to copy!”

Sky’s pitlane reporter Ted Kravitz said Red Bull’s floor makes the designs of Mercedes and Ferrari look168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史: “prehistoric” in comparison.

“It’s a thing of w𒀰onder and beauty,” Kravitz said. “Especially when you compare it to the floor of the Mercedes and the Ferrari, wh♓ich 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 t𓆏heir own on the Red Bull!

“It’s so co𒈔mplex 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 wh🍰at they’re doing with the area under the ꦅcrash structure and the gearbox as well.

“I tell you, when you look a🤡t these pictures and compare them to the Mercedes and Ferrari you think ‘okay, n𓆏o wonder this Red Bull RB19 is so good’.” 

Even 𝐆if doubts have been raised over whether teams can gain much from the photos, they certainly provided a fascinating insight into modern-day F1 tech and grabbed everyone’s attention.