Despite winning 21 Grands Prix out of 22 events last season, this year Red Bull has decided to reinvent itself, significantly modifying the basis of the RB20. A process that led the new single-seater to distance itself from its progenitor in various aspects, according to Adrian Newey necessary to distance itself from the competition again.
Development which was also possible thanks to the dominance of 2023, because having closed the championship so many months in advance gave the possibility of reducing the number of updates during the last world championship to focus on the 2024 car.
For now, Red Bull has won four victories out of five events, with the exception of the Melbourne stage, where Ferrari triumphed, also taking advantage of Max Verstappen's retirement due to a technical problem. Furthermore, Sergio Perez also explained that he found a better feeling with the RB20 compared to last season's car.
Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
However, many of the changes that can be appreciated externally on the 2024 car are the result of painstaking work under the bonnet, also with regards to the installation of the Honda Power Unit and the cooling radiators, which is spread over four stages.
Speaking exclusively to Motorsport.com, Honda Racing Corporation president Koji Watanabe said the Japanese manufacturer was surprised by all the changes made to the RB20 which also required significant work behind the scenes.
“For this year's Red Bull car, we were very surprised to see that so many changes were made to the RB20,” Watanabe said.
“Last year we won 21 out of 22 races together, but they still changed the concept. It's incredible! They made a lot of requests to adapt our engine to the new RB20 concept. After seeing the RB20 in person, we were very impressed surprised by all the changes made.”
Detail Red Bull Racing RB20
Picture of: Giorgio Piola
Clearly the regulation requires the freezing of the engines, but in reality there are various elements on which manufacturers can intervene, also to improve the overall reliability of the Power Unit. This work, according to Watanabe, gave the Milton Keynes team more design freedom, in order to position the various cooling elements differently.
Just think of how the intakes are now arranged to bring fresh air to the various radiators: the one towards the entrance to the bellies has been split and consists of a vertical intake and a very thin horizontal one, certainly less bulky than the evolutions of last season. Other intakes were then positioned on both sides of the halo, both internally behind the driver's head and externally, even if the latter solution only arrived later, on the occasion of the Japanese Grand Prix.
Furthermore, there are interesting innovations, such as the two radiators positioned immediately behind the halo attachment, or the fact that the large central cooling system, in recent seasons above the Honda engine, is now no longer in a very high position and inclined, but rather laid out horizontally lower, among other things with smaller dimensions.
Technical detail of the Red Bull Racing RB20
Picture of: Giorgio Piola
“Of course, we can't increase the power since the engines are frozen, but we can adapt the engine to the new car,” Watanabe said.
“In addition to this, we can also improve the reliability of the Power Unit. This is what we did during last winter. This gave Red Bull more freedom regarding the design and aerodynamic concept. For this reason they could change the location of oil coolers, radiators, etc.”
“Sometimes last year we risked damaging the Power Unit, although in the end it didn't turn out to be a big problem, but we always have to minimize the risks. That's why we did our best to further improve the reliability of the engine for this year”.
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