F1 | Marko: “Red Bull with Mercedes-style bellies, but caution is needed”

The Milton Keynes team has been particularly active in the renewal phase of its car for this year, adopting concepts similar to those chosen by Mercedes in the past, at least before it changed its concept after the first races of 2023.

One of these are the channels that run along the top of the bonnet and the revised bellies, which appear to include a vertical air intake reminiscent of Mercedes' zeropod version from early last year. For the moment, however, the similarities in this area only stop at the radiator sockets.

Red Bull is also said to be preparing an even more extreme solution for colder races earlier in the season, when it could further reduce the airflow feeding the radiators.

Red Bull's decision to pursue ideas similar to those of Mercedes has attracted great interest, but its motorsport consultant Helmut Marko was cautious in this respect.

He is in fact well aware of the fact that, while the zeropod solution offered brilliant performance in the wind tunnel, Mercedes was unable to make it fully work on the track, so much so that it changed its philosophy last season.

For this reason, Marko explained that this week's tests in Bahrain will be fundamental for the team, as they will allow it to understand whether or not this new solution can be used in reality. Asked whether Red Bull adopted a solution that Mercedes later abandoned, Marko told Servus TV: “They were also convinced by the data of their zeropod concept, but in practice it didn't work at all.”

“Now we will see in tests whether we can successfully implement this solution, or let's say a similar solution. Adrian Newey [il responsabile tecnico della Red Bull] has always been in favor of cars without radiators. But obviously the engineers can't do that. It's logical. We're not that extreme [come la Mercedes]but we have a similar direction in terms of the idea.”

Marko added that the launch car will form the basis of the RB20 with which the team will start the season, praising the efforts made to improve the RB19 that dominated last year. “It's more than an evolution. It's a small revolution. It's the basis of what will be used in 2024. In terms of simulation and wind tunnel, everything worked very well.”