As it gets ready to defend its title as the dominant force in Formula One for a third consecutive year, Red Bull claims that it has “pushed the boundaries” with the design of its new car, the RB20.
Six days before pre-season testing began, the reigning champions unveiled their new vehicle on Thursday. However, a significant portion of the attention at the launch event was taken over by an ongoing internal inquiry against team principal Christian Horner.
Although Adrian Newey, the head of Red Bull design, emphasized that the new vehicle is an improvement over the RB19 from the previous year, some visual design tweaks, including a few elements evoking memories of the Mercedes from the previous year, imply the team is still making substantial progress in the wind tunnel.
“We can see rival cars have been influenced by RB19, and we’re expecting other teams to converge,” Horner stated.
“I think the team did a fantastic job on RB20; they haven’t rested on their laurels and have clearly pushed the car’s limits. Only once we’re back on track will we be able to determine the relative standings at the beginning of the season.
“The automobile also has some fantastic innovation, which will undoubtedly be examined in the upcoming weeks. The team has a strong creative streak, which is evident in some of the solutions they have developed. This car has some amazing creativity; it’s not a conservative evolution.”
The new RB20, in contrast to the RB19, has vertical sidepod inlets that resemble the Mercedes W14 from the previous year in design. Red Bull, on the other hand, has stayed with traditional-looking sidepods with deep undercuts, while Mercedes continued with its now-infamous “zero-pod” design.
Another notable design element of the cooling setup on the Mercedes from the previous year is present on the RB20 as well: a bulge that runs the length of the engine cover beneath the vehicle’s primary Red Bull motif.
When asked if the RB20’s design included any “Mercedes-style” elements, defending champion Max Verstappen responded, “I would still call it a Red Bull style, but I know what you mean.”
Sergio Perez, Verstappen’s teammate, continued, “It just shows the hunger that we have.” You wouldn’t think we would alter the premise that much after our automobile proved to be so dominant the previous year. I find Red Bull’s action to be quite courageous.”
Team manager Horner responded, “It’s not tactical, it’s based on performance and what we’re seeing through our simulation tools,” in response to a question concerning the RB20’s resemblances to more contemporary Mercedes vehicles.
“It’s obvious that the automobile looks much different from last year in several areas. In the virtual world, we wouldn’t have committed it to design if we didn’t think it was better, but only time will tell.”
This year, Verstappen hopes to win the drivers’ championship for a record-breaking fourth time. He stated he initially saw the new car’s final designs towards the close of the previous season.
Verstappen expressed his happiness with the path they went in. “When I saw the drawings from the most recent race in Abu Dhabi, I thought, ‘Wow, that’s quite different in a way.'” Furthermore, they have not, to put it that way, been conservative. “I think the team’s strength is that, although we had a fantastic package, they seized the opportunity to really go above and beyond and attempt to improve it. Of course, only time will tell if it’s truly excellent.
However, based on my observations of the squad, everyone is content with their wintertime accomplishments. On the other hand, we are unsure. The actions of other people are beyond our control.
Horner believes that Red Bull won all but one race last year, and that kind of dominance won’t be achievable this year.
“I believe it would be quite challenging to set a goal of winning every event. We only lost to Singapore last year, so theoretically we can do better, but logically there will be convergence with steady laws. After all, we scored 21 out of 22 last year.”
