The news is destined to spark great curiosity in this phase in which the FIA is in force, meaning that the F1 team staff are on holiday and the factories are closed at least until the start of the new year. Red Bull would have failed the frontal crash test with the first body of the long-awaited RB20, the single-seater which should be a profound evolution of the extraordinary RB19 with which Max Verstappen won his third drivers' world championship and the Milton Keynes team collected the title Manufacturers lining up 21 successes in 22 GPs.
Red Bull, therefore, did not obtain the approval sticker from the International Federation for the body which was destroyed before Christmas in the crash test which took place in Cranfield, where all the British teams subject their new cars to dynamic tests.
It remains to be seen whether this “accident” will have the effect of slowing down the plans of the world champion team which would have set the presentation of the car around February 10th: the exact date has not yet been made official and could be conditioned by the outcome of the negative crash test.
Red Bull is no stranger to these problems: the company's “philosophy” is to take the choices to extremes, running the risk of not passing the frontal test, to have the lightest nose and chassis possible and often just adding a leather carbon to comply with FIA safety limits to absorb the energy in the event of a violent frontal impact.
Photo by: Uncredited
Red Bull RB19, detail of the nose: that of the RB20 would not have passed the frontal crash test
According to speculation, it is conceivable that to gain weight the RB20 has a shorter or more hollowed out nose, given that the world champion car was still above the 798 kg limit and Adrian Newey aims to go below the limit with the new creation in Milton Keynes.
Obviously the world champion team has already taken counter measures, but the stop to activity risks having repercussions on the approval of the car, given that chassis number 2 should go for homologation: some hope that there may be some… cracks in the perfect system directed by Pierre Waché.
We are sure that in Milton Keynes they are aware of the problems and the solutions and it will certainly not be this hiccup that will affect the 2024 season, even if the expected timing will certainly go a bit wrong…
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