What if this time developing an idea born in 2022 doesn't work? The question seems to be circulating around the corridors of Milton Keynes. Reality? Pure superstition? This is not yet known. But according to what Adrian Newey said, the choice to continue with the trend activated 2 years ago with the advent of ground effect cars in Formula 1 may not guarantee Red Bull Racing the successes it has had in recent years.
Speaking to the team's Talking Bulls podcast about what you can expect from the RB20, Newey said: “Our car is a third evolution of the 2022 car (i.e. the RB18).”
“Last year's car was an evolution of the RB18. The main points were, obviously, the normal winter development in terms of aerodynamics, understanding what we needed to do with the suspension to try to improve the car and the weight reduction, because we never went down to the weight limit in the 2022 car.”
“This year's car is the third evolution of the original RB18. What we don't know, of course, is whether the third evolution is too conservative, while others have done something different? You just can't know.”
Newey's comments that there is no clear direction as to whether Red Bull have done the right thing come after he admitted he was completely surprised last year at how far ahead his team was.
“The RB18, the first car, with the new regulations, I think has managed to get the fundamentals right in terms of the approach to the research process, the architecture of the car, its layout and so on.”
Adrian Newey, Chief Technology Officer of Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
“We managed to produce a decent car that we then developed through 2022. And obviously we had a very strong car. And obviously, in '22 we had a very competitive second half of the season.”
“In 2023, therefore in the second season of these new regulations, we expected the grid to get closer. Last year, therefore, took all of us, me first and foremost, by surprise. We really didn't expect the dominance we had” .
“This year, from what I understand, many of our rivals have taken a good look at our car from last year. I suspect there will be quite a few cars that will look a lot like ours.”
“At the end of 2023, although Red Bull managed to win every race apart from Singapore, everyone started to come closer to us and were chasing us. Honestly, there's a lot of pressure on us.”
For this reason, Newey admitted that it would be an advantage to entrust the designers with the task of looking for more radical approaches for the RB20, something that could allow the team to maintain the advantage it had in 2023. But the presence of the Budget Cap prevents it from pursuing every possible option .
“The question is: should we have a group that deals with completely different ideas or continue to develop the path taken? Our resources, those that we can invest, are limited.”
“So we can't do everything and we can't consider all the avenues. So we chose to develop what we have. We hope that this is the correct decision, while being prudent,” concluded the Stratford-upon-native engineer. Avon.
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