Mohammed Alshahrani, Vedant Parikh, Brandon Foley, Gennady M. Verkhivker
, F456, L455) that are more permissive to variation. MM-GBSA energy decomposition confirms that van der Waals-driven hydrophobic packing dominates binding, with primary hotspots contributing disproportionately to affinity, while electrostatic networks provide auxiliary stabilization. Conformational and mutational frustration analyses demonstrate that immune escape hotspots reside in neutral-frustration "playgrounds" that permit mutational exploration without destabilizing the RBD, explaining the repeated emergence of convergent mutations across lineages. Our results establish that broad neutralization arises not from ultra-high-affinity anchors, but rather from strategic energy distribution across rigid, evolutionary interfaces. By linking distributed binding, neutral frustration landscapes, and viral fitness constraints, this framework provides a predictive blueprint for designing next-generation therapeutics and vaccines capable of withstanding viral evolution.