Photo: Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes and Aston Martin suspension comparison | F1 2023. Suspension comparison.

Suspension comparison between the Scuderia Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes and Aston Martin 2023 Formula 1 cars based on the following image from Bahrain:

The Aston Martin suspension is basically the same idea as the Red Bull, just with push rod instead of pull rod. I think it was Craig Scarborough who said all the aero elements in these cars after the wing are there to produce downwash to keep the air attached to the surface of the sidepods as it goes towards the diffuser.

Interesting to clearly notice the suspension on the Red Bull and clearly see the pull / push rod differece: with Red Bull it will pull the rod/suspension, while with the others it will push the rod into the suspension. The Austrian side therefore users pullrod up front and pushrod on the back, which is opposite to what most teams run. They started doing that last season and it was was one of the main take away from last season launch.

From this angle the RB19 pull-rod suspension elements look more aligned than they actually are compared to the push-rod suspension the others are using. Red Bull do seem to use elements with a shorter chord (less wide when viewed from the top) compared to the others.

Mercedes, Ferrari and Alpine’s front and back wishbones both look parallel to the ground compared to Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin and Red Bull. It probably doesn’t do enough for any kinematic properties to outweigh aero considerations. So it’s most certainly aerodynamics.

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When teams buy suspension components from each other (ex: Aston Martin from Mercedes), it is usually the inboard stuff (I.e. the springs and dampers themselves) rather than the wishbones. The wishbones are very sensitive aerodynamically so it’s best to design your own, and they’re not especially complicated to design/manufacture, so not much benefit to buying them in!