Red Bull raised eyebrows by unveiling the 2024 RB20 and showing off a car with similar technology. 2023 Mercedes F1 machine side pod inlet shape and engine cover.
It should be noted that the parts were subsequently scrapped by Mercedes.
Red Bull took the covers off the RB20 at its Milton Keynes headquarters on Thursday, revealing a car that many believe will once again be the sector's choice.
“It's not a conservative evolution. There's real innovation in this car.”
In what is being touted as a major design change for the reigning world champion, instead of last year's sidepod design, this year's RB20 features significantly undercut sidepods in line with Mercedes' Zero pods.
The cooling intake, which is reminiscent of a vertical mailbox slot, has also been moved to the rear and sits slightly lower in the car.
The engine cover also has a long cooling gully along the length of the engine cover, an area typical of the 2023 Mercedes.
“There is great innovation in this car. It will definitely come under scrutiny in the coming weeks,” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner told media, including PlanetF1.com's Thomas Maher.
“I think the creativity of the team was strong, and you can see that in some of the solutions they came up with.
“So it's not a conservative evolution. There's real innovation in this car.”
However, while it was thought that this year's car would lean towards the dominant Red Bull RB19, Red Bull instead took a step towards last year's Mercedes.
When asked about taking inspiration from design elements Mercedes has since scrapped from F1 cars, the 50-year-old replied: This is based on performance and what we see through simulation tools.
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“Obviously, the car definitely looks different than last year in certain areas.
“Only a stopwatch tells you that, but in a virtual world, I wouldn't have committed to the design if I didn't feel it was better.”
Red Bull design guru Adrian Newey is pleased with the results so far after letting drivers put the RB20 through its paces in a pre-launch shakedown at the Silverstone circuit.
“We pretty much know what we did in the shakedown at Silverstone, and as far as we know it seems to have behaved as expected,” he said.
“But that doesn't guarantee anything. Maybe other teams have made bigger leaps than us, we'll have to take a look at that.”
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