Only one 2024 F1 Challenger remains to be unveiled, and the one that many predict will win is the Red Bull RB20.
Red Bull set the bar incredibly high for themselves with their heroics last season, when they crushed the competition with 21 out of 22 Grand Prix wins.
Will Red Bull be able to build on its record-breaking season stats this time around? Well, it's possible with 24 rounds scheduled, but can the RB20 make it happen?
Red Bull, a daunting unknown benchmark
The launch season has seen positive talk from most of the rival camps, with many insisting on progress, but it's all relative to what Red Bull envisions, so the line for improvement is quite thin. It's vague.
The message from Red Bull has been consistent, with the team expecting the pack to converge, with design guru Adrian Newey saying that seeing the RB19 build on the RB18's dominance would be “completely “It was a big surprise,” he admitted.
The latest work is expected to be a further evolution of the RB18, an early ground-effect aerodynamic car, and the company is concerned about whether it will be enough as Mercedes, Ferrari, Alpine and others fall back. Wei admitted. He has progressed to the drawing stage for his 2024 F1 work.
“With the RB18 being the first car to adapt to the new regulations, I think we managed to get the basics right in terms of how to approach the architecture of the car, including the research process and layout, and managed to deliver results.” With a decent car that we have developed until 2022,'' Newey said on Red Bull's Talking Bull podcast.
“Obviously, the second half of the 2022 season was very strong.
“In 2023, the second year of the new regulations, we fully expected the grid to be closed, so last year we were all completely surprised, and most of all myself, and we did not expect such exclusivity. It wasn't.
“I think this year, from what I understand, a lot of people who are competitors are taking a good look at this time and are probably coming…quite a few cars that are very similar to ours. I think it will become.
“Our car will truly be the third evolution of the 2022 car.
“So last year's car was mainly due to the usual winter development in terms of aerodynamics, and some understanding of what needs to be done to the suspension to improve the car. It's an evolution of the 2022 model, and we've made it lighter, because it didn't reach the weight limit in 2022.
“This year's car is the third evolution of the original RB18. Now, of course what we don't know is that [whether] The third evolution is too conservative, but the other evolutions are doing something different. you just don't know. ”
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Red Bull is responding calmly, but it would take the boldest U-turn to prevent the RB20 from competing for victory in F1 in 2024. From the outside, there is a growing view that current and defending world champion Max Verstappen is a three-time champion and is invincible in the Red Bull machine. At least until regulations are reviewed again in 2026.
Verstappen won 19 of Red Bull's 21 Grand Prix wins last season and believes he is here to win, with only a rare off-weekend in Singapore costing them their unbeaten season. He gave almost no reason.
With Verstappen at the wheel of the Challenger RB20, which Red Bull will switch focus to in mid-2023, it will be difficult enough to beat this great driver team combination even once, never mind putting together a title challenge.
However, if the likes of Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari close the gap, the real cause for concern for Red Bull is probably not Verstappen's ability to defend, but rather Sergio Perez's ability to secure the constructors' championship trophy. It would be appropriate. Milton Keynes.
Perez has endured various alarming slumps and is on the verge of finishing runner-up in the 2023 Drivers' Championship, but he has scored less than half the points of his team-mates, presenting a serious question mark over the Red Bull team. ing. The Constructors' ability to maintain their championship in the face of tough competition, something the Constructors have lacked since the beginning of the Ground Effects era.
Red Bull are aware that Perez, whose contract expires at the end of F1 in 2024, is fighting for his future in F1 with Red Bull. You'd hope that's enough to stay in peak condition.
Read next: Mercedes unveils all-new 2024 F1 car after shakedown at Silverstone
