Ansys’ Inside Look into the F1 Success of Oracle Red Bull Racing

See how simulation was used to help break F1 records.

Disclosure: Shawn Wasserman is a former employee of Ansys Inc. who owns minor Ansys company stock.

With five races to go, Oracle Red Bull Racing’s newest car, RB19, has gained 16 wins, 24 podiums and 657 points (over double the points of its nearest competitor MERCEDES). The team has clinched the 2023 Formula 1 World Constructors’ and World Drivers’ Championships. Ansys, the simulation giant, says that much of this success can be traced back to simulation.

Ansys says much of Oracle Red Bull Racing’s success can be traced back to simulation. (Image: Ansys.)

Ansys says much of Oracle Red Bull Racing’s success can be traced back to simulation. (Image: Ansys.)

“We proudly congratulate our innovation partner, Oracle Red Bull Racing, on their competitive prowess and continued success in the 2023 F1 season,” said Shane Emswiler, senior vice president of product at Ansys. “Ansys multiphysics solutions are a game changer, from the design concept to the moment the wheels touch the track on race day.”

Ansys explains that Formula 1 changed its rules on aerodynamic ground effect in 2022. As a result, Oracle Red Bull Racing needed to significantly change its vehicle designs and aerodynamic systems to compensate. For instance, using Ansys Fluent, the team iterated the car’s floor to improve the downward force of the car and thus increase RB19’s stability, speed and grip.

Episode 1 of Ansys’ Driven By Simulation digs into how Oracle Red Bull Racing uses simulation technology to optimize for each race based on course layout, car weight, weather conditions, air pressure, temperature and more. (Video: Ansys.)

Recently, Ansys released the first episode of its Driven By Simulation YouTube show. In it, they go over various other ways Oracle Red Bull Racing uses simulation tools such as Ansys Granta MI and Ansys LS-DYNA to improve the RB19 for each race based on course layout, car weight, weather conditions, air pressure, temperature and more.

“The great thing about simulation is that you can put a car in a virtual wind tunnel and look at how the air will move around the shapes without having to physically build anything,” said Morgan Maia, Technical Partnerships manager at Oracle Red Bull Racing. “With Ansys, we can make decisions faster than ever, and we have greater confidence that the car will replicate the behavior we saw in the virtual wind tunnel on the track; that’s where Ansys gives us the competitive edge as evidenced by our successful season to date.”

Written by

Shawn Wasserman

For over 10 years, Shawn Wasserman has informed, inspired and engaged the engineering community through online content. As a senior writer at WTWH media, he produces branded content to help engineers streamline their operations via new tools, technologies and software. While a senior editor at Engineering.com, Shawn wrote stories about CAE, simulation, PLM, CAD, IoT, AI and more. During his time as the blog manager at Ansys, Shawn produced content featuring stories, tips, tricks and interesting use cases for CAE technologies. Shawn holds a master’s degree in Bioengineering from the University of Guelph and an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Waterloo.