Adrian Newey's fear about the 2024 Red Bull RB20

By Carlo Platella
Enthusiasts and professionals eagerly await to see the RB20, which on the eve of the 2024 world championship presents itself as the car to beat. The earliest possible date could be the presentation on February 15th, although it cannot be ruled out that Red Bull could reveal only the livery, postponing the public appearance of the car until the collective tests in Bahrain. Even more than the future, however, to understand the RB20 it could be important to look to the past.

The Red Bull route

Adrian Newey, famous chief designer at Red Bull, retraces the team's stages in the era of ground effect regulations: “With the RB18, the first car under the new regulations, we managed to manage the fundamentals well in terms of research, machine architecture and overall layout. The result was a good car, which we then developed during 2022, with a very positive second part of the season.”Newey's story on the podcast Talking Bull.

The RB18 managed to generate load consistently and without sudden imbalances in balance. For the first year, Red Bull decided to prioritize handling and aerodynamic stability, without yet hunting for maximum load. The 2022 car, in fact, was deficient in fast corners compared to the Ferrari, which instead released a greater peak of grip. For 2023, however, the situation has been reversed, both with the contribution of the regulatory limitations to the fund and the development carried out in Milton Keynes. Newey continues: “Last year's car was an evolution of the 2022 one. The main points of the work were the normal aerodynamic development during the winter and the study on what to change in the suspensions to improve the machine.”

The attention placed by the British engineer on suspensions is not accidental. Last autumn Newey himself explained on the Beyond The Grid podcast how central mechanics were to the current regulations: “The key to these ground effect machines lies not only in the aerodynamics, but also in how this goes with the frame”. The work on the suspension allowed the team to stabilize the bottom at stable heights and postures, thus managing to get closer to the ground and release more load. In 2023 the RB19 was finally king in terms of aerodynamic efficiency, dominating on those fast corners where it was lagging behind until the previous season. However, even the second ground-effect Red Bull was not free from defects, which will be corrected with the next car.

The RB20

“Our car will be a third evolution of the RB18”. A few simple words with which Newey anticipates the RB20. The new Red Bull will maintain the approach of the previous ones, with a concept designed to run close to the ground. The bellies will still be sloping, while the suspensions will probably be of the pull rod type at the front and push rod at the rear. For 2024 in Milton Keynes we worked to enhance the strong points of the latest projects, in particular the stability and efficiency at medium-high speeds, trying at the same time to improve the slow travel, the grip in maximum load configuration and passing over curbs.

However, the British engineer does not hide some doubts about the choice of an evolution rather than a revolution: “We don't know if it's the right choice or not if it turns out to be too conservative compared to what others have done.” In fact, when setting up the 2024 car, there was no shortage of questions: “Should we dedicate a working group to evaluate other ideas? Or we continue to develop the path we have taken.” According to Newey, however, the choice was forced: “Resources are limited, you can't do everything. We have chosen to develop what we have. We hope it turns out to be the correct choice.”

The pressure of the opponents

Red Bull presents itself as the favorite at the start of the new championship, but towards the end of 2023 its opponents showed signs of improvement. “At the end of the season we managed to win all the races except Singapore, but they were all after us. The pressure is high,” reflects Newey. “In Austin we were about to lose. We chose to take a risk by aiming for an extra stop and Max did the rest. In Las Vegas, to be completely honest, Leclerc with Ferrari was the fastest driver and Verstappen certainly made the difference there.” Also noteworthy are the races in Brazil and Qatar, where Verstappen had to manage the great pressure exerted by the McLarens. However, it should be considered that Red Bull interrupted the development of the RB19 early to dedicate itself to the RB20 project, which was born with all the conditions to be the reference car once again.