Last Updated on January 3 2024, 10:16 am

There’s just 56 days before the cars take to the circuit in Sakhir for the first practice session of the season, but Red Bull appears to be having trouble with its latest Formula One challenger. Having utterly dominated the 2023 season with their RB19, Red Bull are building an evolution of their world record breaking prototype racing machine while Mercedes are starting from scratch.

Having developed a design philosophy for the new ground effect era starting in 2022, Mercedes finally realised they were on the wrong track and their 2024 car will change “almost every component” according to Toto Wolff. The advantage will surely be with Red Bull in their battle with their arch rivals, the silver arrows, given Mercedes will need to understand how their new platform works from circuit to circuit whilst Christian Horner’s team have that information from the previous two seasons.

 

 

 

RB20 evolution pursues lightweight chassis

Horner recently admitted while the RB18 was an evolution from their previous car, the big win was through weight loss. Whilst the weights of the cars are not published, Red Bull were believed last year to be operating closer to the 798kg minimum limit than other competitors. This meant the car was around 20kg lighter than its 2022 predecessor and in terms of lap time thats around 0.6 of a second.

In his pursuit of lap time, Newey will want the 2024 Milton Keynes produced F1 car to be even closer to the FIA mandated minus weight and in doing so it appears the world champion team have miscalculated. Reports from Motorsport Italia suggest the RB20 failed an FIA crash test just prior to Christmas Day failing to deliver there required energy absorption to meet the necessary safety standards.

Whilst not a disaster, this is a setback for the world champions who suffered a similar fate with their 2022 car. That test was much earlier in the car’s development cycle so there will be concerns amongst the technical team in Milton Keynes.

Another area where weight matters hugely is in the nose of the car, which must endure stringent energy absorption tests. The lighter the front end of the car, the more it induces oversteer something which suits the precision driving of Max Verstappen. Again should Red Bull develop a car along these lines it will mitigate one of the few weaknesses  in the RB19 which struggled through the slower corners in places like Singapore and Las Vegas.

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Light front end suits Verstappen

A lighter front end for Verstappen this season would allow him to carry more speed into tighter turns and he can then rotate the car through the oversteer – meaning more time is saved when racing on the slower and more twisty circuits.

At present its not clear how grave this failure is for Red Bull but it does demonstrate how they are pushing the boundaries in their attempt to retain their lead over the rest of the F1 field.

Christian Horner recently revealed that the Red Bull technical team were preparing for the end of the Adrian Newey era. The team’s guru designer turned 65 years old on Boxing Day and Horner confirmed at times the team operate without his input.

Technical director Pierre Wache now plays the leading role as Horner begins to prepare for life beyond Newey.

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Newey now less hands on

“Adrian is a big part of this team and big part of what we’ve achieved but, of course, his role has evolved over the last few years and the technical team beneath him led by Pierre Wache, they’re doing a wonderful job and so that they’re not reliant on Adrian,” he told motorsport.com

”He [Newey] has the ability to come in, come out and work on other projects and I think that’s part of the evolution of any team,” adds Horner indicating he intends to build a Red Bull dynasty not dependent on the great man.

To illustrate his point, Horner compared the situation to one of football’s great dynasties.

“I was always a big fan of Manchester United, not as a Man United fan, but of Alex Ferguson, they had [Eric] Cantona and then they just evolved. Red Bull is a team that, we’re stronger for having Adrian with us, but of course the rest of the team is evolving.”

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McLaren close in

Of course Horner’s example is somewhat flawed given the success for United pretty much ended the day Ferguson retired. And despite the confidence Horner exudes in his technical team, the proof of the pudding will be when Newey is no longer involved at Red Bull.

With Horner declaring their 2024 F1 car will be an evolution from the RB19, then little more than a light touch from Newey should be required to deliver another strong challenger for the coming season. The failed FIA crash test may see Newey hurry back to the office to take charge in the crisis

Yet after years in the wilderness, Red Bull will not relent on p[ushing the boundaries to stay ahead particularly of the impressive McLaren outfit being assembled by Zak Brown. McLaren were the best of the rest over the closing half of the 2023 season and with the arrival of ex-Red Bull senior engineer Rob Marshall should push on again this year.

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