The domination of Red Bull in the 2023 season has been such that
the remaining interest is now concentrated on the fight for second
place in the Constructors’ between Mercedes and Ferrari. The
Brackley-based team led by 20 points with two races still to go,
with the focus now shifted towards the 2024 cars, without any
exception. Indeed, the latest rumours from the paddock in Brazil is
that Red Bull would once again be capable of annihilating the field
once again in 2024. These rumours coincidentally emerged thanks to
the heavy gusts of wind that plagued qualifying on Friday at
Interlagos. Privately, the team and drivers expressed amazement at
a phenomenon never experienced with the RB19 before. Max Verstappen
and Sergio Perez described the car as feeling ‘very slowed down’
and unbalanced, as if it had damaged suspension. But as the wind
affected the RB19, Adrian Newey stepped in during the usual
technical debriefing, remotely, to offer pointers, with an eye to
2024 and the RB20. Revolution under the car The RB20 is set to be
an extreme take on the concepts developed by the RB19 – and while
it will visually maintain similarities with the 2023 car, next’s
year’s design will follow a different aerodynamic concept. It is to
be more refined, with the downforce created and distributed in a
radically different way to now, with the floor working differently,
adopting different volumetric conformation of the Venturi channels
that suck the car to the ground and create the ground effects.
Technical Director Pierre Wache and the aerodynamicists have found
various areas of the RB19 to be almost perfect, with only marginal
evolutions and no radical developments needed, owing to the
significant pace advantage over rivals. It was therefore decided to
integrate into the new project all the changes identified as
solutions to the weak points of the RB19 – with the different
downforce distribution and generation likely making the effects of
the gusts of wind far less relevant. This is to say that, while
opponents are struggling to find a way to catch Red Bull and Max
Verstappen at the moment, the team seems to already be introducing
radical steps of the highest level to prevent them from getting any
closer…
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