The current holders of the World Championship title unveiled their new Formula 1 car, the Red Bull RB20, on Thursday. As soon as it was revealed, it likely caused some discomfort for rival teams who are still trying to catch up from last season, where Red Bull Racing won 21 out of 22 races. Gary Anderson, a former designer for Jordan, Stewart, and Jaguar, expressed his astonishment, saying, “I think there will be a few other teams’ technical departments going ‘oh my goodness’, where do we go from here?”
Triple F1 world champion Max Verstappen, who drives for Red Bull, shared his initial reaction to seeing the first drawings of the RB20 at the end of last season, saying, “Wow, that’s quite different.” The most notable feature of the new car is the redesigned sidepods, which now have tall and slim vertical radiator inlets, resembling a design that Mercedes attempted and abandoned last season.
Christian Horner, the team principal, described the RB20 as an evolution of its predecessor, the RB19, but acknowledged that it was not a conservative design and included genuine innovations. He explained that the changes were driven by performance and based on simulations. Horner stated, “You can see they’ve been quite aggressive in certain areas and still pushing the boundaries, conscious that our opponents are still going to be pushing very hard. Some of the details on the car are absolutely exceptional.”
Adrian Newey, the star designer for Red Bull, stated that the team had made improvements in all aspects of the car, including mechanical, vehicle dynamics, and aerodynamics. However, he admitted that it was uncertain whether these improvements would be enough, as Formula 1 is unpredictable. Newey reflected on the surprise dominance of last year’s car and said, “It could be that some other team has made a bigger leap than us.”
There is concern among Red Bull’s competitors that they may have reached a new level of development while other teams have launched cars that appear to be influenced by the RB19. Sergio Perez, a veteran driver for Red Bull, expressed optimism, saying, “I believe we’ve made some good progress in the right direction, so it should be another fantastic season for the team.”
Teams will have three days of testing in Bahrain from 21-23 February before the opening race of the 2024 F1 World Championship on 2 March at the same venue. James Allison, the technical director of Mercedes, described the pre-season period as a “development war” and expressed a mix of anticipation and trepidation. He compared it to waiting for Christmas, where there is excitement but also the realization that the outcome may not meet expectations. Allison will undoubtedly be one of those closely monitoring the RB20. (Reporting by Alan Baldwin)
According to the Source grandprix247.com