After Red Bull took the covers off its long-awaited new RB20, the challengers for the 2024 F1 campaign are all set.
There was a lot of talk of progress between the nine rival teams, but there was also a pervasive sense of relativity that their progress depended entirely on what Red Bull, the dominant force of the Grand Effect era, came up with this time. .
And now, as Red Bull has unveiled the RB20 to the world, these outfits can at least look to the challenger they are expected to beat in F1 in 2024.
Christian Horner looks at Red Bull's future as 'very bright'
The bar set for the RB20 by its predecessor was extremely high, and the RB19 won 21 of 22 Grand Prix races on its way to comfortably retaining the Driver's and Constructor's titles.
And as Red Bull Racing enters its 20th season, team principal Horner says the RB20 has been tasked with leading the team to “tremendous results”, with six constructors' titles and seven to date. He praised the team's “phenomenal” achievement in winning the drivers' title. Looking ahead to his next 20 years of “exciting” activity, including the debut of his Red Bull powertrain from 2026.
“What we've been doing for the last 20 years is… [years] It's nothing short of amazing,” Horner told media, including PlanetF1.com's Thomas Maher, at the launch of the RB20.
“And I think the next 20 years are going to be very exciting, especially with the realization of our own power unit in the building next door as we speak.
“So the future is very bright and I hope we can continue the journey that we have enjoyed and enjoyed over the past 19 seasons.”
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Red Bull's dominant Dutch driver, Max Verstappen, will enter F1 in 2024 with the aim of winning his fourth world championship in as many seasons, but only time will tell whether the RB20 is the challenger for him to achieve that feat. We'll know over time,” he admitted.
For now, he is looking forward to heading to the Bahrain International Circuit for pre-season testing from February 21 to 23 to familiarize himself with the new car.
“I’m excited. It’s always such a pleasure to see a new car come to life, and to see how it’s built by the people around it, and even when it comes to fitting the seats. It's the same,” Verstappen said.
“For me at the moment I'm just looking forward to Bahrain, getting tested, getting used to the car, understanding what I need to do and working from there.
“The season is very long so we just have to start off as good as we can and try to really understand the car and we'll see where we end up.”
The 2024 F1 season will also be an important season for Verstappen's teammate Sergio Perez. Perez will be entering the final year of his current Red Bull contract and starting anew after his disastrous loss to Verstappen in 2023.
And while Perez believes Red Bull has “taken a good step in the right direction” with the RB20, it's certainly not music to the ears of the chasing pack.
“I'm really happy that the whole team put together a great concept,” Perez said.
“Now we want to get on the track properly at the Bahrain test and we'll know where we are in the first few races.
“But we believe we have taken good steps in the right direction, so it should be another great season for the team.”
Perez will be competing for a new contract with Red Bull, but Verstappen's contract runs until the end of 2028, so his future is secure.
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