Toro Rosso STR5 and Red Bull RB6 – Born sisters but grown different

 

Toro Rosso built its 2010 contender the STR5 using its own sources for the first time rather than copying the designs of the sister Red Bull team.  Nevertheless STR5 is not a completely new car as it bears similarities to the STR4 and the RB6 especially at season start .  The differences were becoming more and more during the season as Red Bull and Toro Rosso followed completely different development paths .

 

Internal Differences

	Toro Rosso   STR5	Red Bull RB6
Engine	Ferrari V8  Type 056	Renault V8 RS27 – 2010
Lubricant	Shell Helix Ultra	Total Group
Oil	Shell	Total Group
Fuel	Shell V-Power	Total Group
Brakes	Brembo (calipers, pads and discs)	Brembo (calipers, pads and discs)
Clutch	Sachs triple-plate pull-type	AP Racing
Wheels	Advanti Racing	OZ Racing
Gearbox	7-speed+1 reverse , different from RB6	7-speed+1 reverse
Dampers	Sachs

 

Major visual Differences

	Toro Rosso   STR5		Red Bull RB6
	Season start	Season end	Season start	Season end
Exhausts	periscope	Close to floor EBD	Close to floor EBD	Close to floor EBD , but quite different
Sidepod Panels	wide	Wide ( no change)	Wide but becoming slimmer to the bottom	Slim
Floor	large side fences	large side fences ( no change)	no side fences	no side fences ( no change)
Vented rear floor	No vent	No vent	No vent	Double vented
Rear central hot air outlet	Smaller elliptical	Very Slim across the engine cover end line	Large oval shaped	Large oval shaped
Front wing	Longer cascade winglets	Developed but different from RB6	Shorter cascade winglets	Heavily developed
Nose cone camera winglets	At nose con tip , hammerhead shark configuration , similar to RB6	Nose con tip ( no change)	At nose con tip	Behind the front wing’s central section
Nose cone hole	Yes ,  a bit larger than the RB6	no	Yes , oval shaped	yes
Mirrors	inboard	inboard	outboard	Inboard
Rear suspension	Pull rod design (different from the RB6)	Pull rod design	Pull rod design	Pull rod design
F-duct	No F-duct	Yes , F-duct is air-fed via an inlet located behind the airbox	no	Yes , F-duct is air-fed via airbox
Under nose cone fences	no	yes	no	no
Floor splitter	Similar to RB6 with side fences	No change	with side fences	Changed and become more complicated
Diffuser	Double decked but different from RB6	Developed	Double decked	Heavily developed
Rear car end	Taller than the RB6	No change	Lower than the STR5	No change

 

 

 

 

 

Toro Rosso STR5 – Rear wing of reduced chord for Brazil

 

The rear wing raced at Brazil was of the same design to the previous version but of reduced chord ( see the large gap between the two flaps )  as Interlagos is a track of lower downforce level .To reduce drag the second flap was cut off close to the endplates .

Toro Rosso STR5 – Back to Hungarian front wing spec since Singapore

STR5 raced the Hungarian front wing spec with the complicated endplates since Singapore .

Toro Rosso STR5 – Further modifications to the front wing at Monza

Monza

 

To reduce a bit the heavy drag loads created at high speeds Toro Rosso added a low height slopping outwards vertical fence at endplate’s horizontal section which was also reverted back to the flat slotted design .

Toro Rosso STR5 – Heavily revised front wing endplates at Hungary

New

A highly sophisticated front wing was launched at Hungary . The flaps of the wing may look similar to the old spec having now a thicker gurney tab  but a closer  observation to the endplates details reveals how complicated the new ones are . The endplate’s horizontal section is now vented featuring  a small Venturi channel to speed up the airflow passing under it . At the outer side of the Venturi channel there are multiple slots  , a similar design also noticed to Renault ‘s endplates .

Old

Toro Rosso STR5 – Exhausts development during season

STR5 throughout 2010 season raced three different exhaust outlets configurations .which are the following

Periscope , blowing between the suspension wishbones

( launch , Australia , China)

Periscope surrounded by bodywork , to improve car’s cooling

( Bahrain , Malaysia , Spain to  Belgium   )

Close to floor ( Exhaust Blown Diffuser ) to blow and energize diffuser boosting downforce production

( Italy to Abu Dhabi )

Toro Rosso STR5 – Ultra low downforce rear wing at Monza

 

Toro Rosso like all teams but HRT , developed a special ultra low downforce rear wing for Monza . The wing remained double profiled with the upper profile retaining the central slot . On the contrary the endplates lost the gills , in a different approach to Canada where endplates kept the gilled configuration .

Toro Rosso STR5 – Back to Turkish front wing spec at Valencia

STR5 used at Valencia ( GP Europe )  the front wing version first presented at Turkey with the longer cascade winglets .

Toro Rosso STR5 – Front suspension

Front Suspension: push rod design with upper and lower carbon wishbones, torsion bar springs and anti-roll bars

The steering axis is placed a bit lower than the upper wishbone . The lower wishbones are attached on the U-shaped undernose extension giving the impression of a high single keel configuration rather a keel-less one .

 

Bizarre upright failure at China

At China a very rear incident happened at Buemi STR5 during Friday free runs . He suffered a double wishbone joint failure to the wheel uprights while the car was under braking ready to turn . As a result of this bizarre failure the wheels where cut off and the car crashed onto the protective barriers  but lucky Buemi escaped uninjured

 

 

 

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Toro Rosso STR5 – Reduced cascade winglets length for Canadian front wing spec

 

Canada

The STR5 front wing’s cascade winglets are actual a combination of three different elements , a double profiled close to the endplates winglet , a middle smaller double profiled section and an inner single flap acting as air stabilizer . That inner section was rejected at Canada because it would create unwanted airflow disturbance at very high speeds .

 

pre- Canada

Toro Rosso STR5 – Low downforce rear wing at Canada

 

A new rear wing of reduced chord and low drag was raced at low downforce Canadian circuit to help STR5 achieve higher top speed at long straights .

Toro Rosso STR5 – Revised front wing endplates at Turkey

Turkey , new spec

 

The front wing raced at Turkey had a new flat endplate horizontal section . The former version featured a wide Venturi channel and offered greater amount of downforce  but the new flat one, which is slotted , reduces the car frond end pitch sensitivity making the car more stable and predictable to driver commands .

 

old spec

Toro Rosso STR5 – Bahraini rear wing spec

 

STR5 raced a double profiled rear wing with slotted second plane and gilled endplates at Sakhir which was very similar to the one featured by Red Bull RB6 .

Toro Rosso STR5 – Floor splitter

STR5 floor splitter has side vertical fences to better divide airflow inside and outside the bargeboard zone offering a smoother and cleaner airflow around the sidepod bottoms . The quality of airflow was improved further after the addition of the under nose cone fences since Hungary .

Toro Rosso STR5 – Car Front aero update at Hungary

since Hungary

Toro Rosso added a pair of fences under the nose cone at Hungary to increase the quality of air passing under the nose and towards the underbody aiming to generate more downforce created by the car body .

pre-Hungary

Toro Rosso STR5 – Floor side fences

To prevent flow interaction between airstream coming above and below the floor , STR5  floor features side fences . Any flow interaction would create extra drag and would effect negatively car body downforce production .

Toro Rosso STR5 – Beam winglet addition at Monaco , Hungary and Singapore

 

Monaco Hungary and Singapore tracks demand  high downforce levels  and all teams seek extra downforce there by adding if possible extra winglets . So did Toro Rosso and added a beam winglet just above the rear light .

Toro Rosso STR5 – Mirrors

STR5 mirrors are mounted on the cockpit sides and so the team need not to revise them due to FIA outboard mirrors ban rule taking effect since Spanish GP.

Toro Rosso STR5 – Bahraini front wing spec

 

STR5 raced at Sakhir a triple profiled front wing with complicated cascade winglets which was very similar to the one tested by Red Bull RB6 during pre-session testing . The nose cone camera winglets are placed at the nose tip in order to increase the quantity of air passing under the nose cone ,  giving  the nose a distinctive hammerhead shark’s  shape  .

Toro Rosso STR5 – Wheels and Tyres

 

Wheels: Advanti Racing (front: 12.7in x 13in , rear: 13.4in x 13in)
Tyres: Bridgestone