Formula One’s season-opening salvo finally came to a close on Thursday when the last of this year’s challengers was unveiled by Red Bull. Pleasingly, given what for the most part has been a series of low-key whimpers with cars largely revealed online only with little fanfare and little detail, it ended with something of a bang. Red Bull have likely left their competitors feeling nervous before a wheel has turned in anger.
The launch of the RB20 had unsurprisingly been dominated by the appearance of Christian Horner, the team principal, who was speaking publicly for the first time since an investigation was launched almost two weeks ago after a complaint from an employee about his conduct.
He repeatedly issued denials there was any truth in the allegations, while also dutifully trying to draw attention to the new car on show at the event. It was largely a forlorn task. Until the investigation concludes, Horner will retain at least equal billing with his car.
Their competitors, however, would have been observing the new ride with no little diligence and when the RB20 emerged into the light, it would have caused a sharp intake of breath.
For two years Red Bull have utterly dominated F1. Their interpretation of the new regulations in 2022, led by their technical director, Adrian Newey, and specifically the role of ground effect aerodynamics, was an extraordinary feat that delivered a design which proved untouchable.
A year later, expectations that rivals would unlock their pace and move up to Red Bull were confounded, leaving the world champions surprised as they moved even further ahead. They won 21 of 22 races with the RB19, an unprecedented run of success.
The team acknowledged by mid-season that there were likely diminishing returns from development as they believed they were already near to the edge of the envelope of the regulations. A refinement of an already superlative package was expected for 2024 and, as their rivals moved close to the Red Bull design, an element of convergence in pace was anticipated.
Instead, what Red Bull wheeled out on Thursday was an aggressive development, innovation and experimentation over conservative evolution. Rather than tweaking to edge toward marginal gains they have gone bold, looking to push the boundaries.
The car’s one weakness last season, and it was far from being a real achilles heel, was through the slow speed corners so it was vulnerable on street circuits such as Monaco and Singapore. Indeed, that single defeat was at Marina Bay to Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz. It must have rankled and clearly the team have set out to remedy it. With such strengths elsewhere the innovation must surely be aimed at ironing out the only kink.
The season has not yet started but perhaps the target when Newey and his team began was building a car capable of returning an elusive unbeaten championship.
The design was most striking not least in being an aggressive departure, but also noticeably in featuring elements with shades of the Mercedes design the team persisted with for two unsuccessful seasons and then dropped for 2024. In particular, the vertical sidepod inlets, a feature of Mercedes’ controversial zero-sidepod design they have now abandoned, and a bulge under the engine cover, a feature of the cooling on last year’s Mercedes.
Even Red Bull’s all conquering world champion, Max Verstappen, acknowledged it when asked about the similarities. “I would still call it a Red Bull style but I know what you mean,” he said.
Horner explained the changes had been driven by research into performance, that simulation had backed their theories and he in turn backed the team’s bold direction. “It’s not a conservative evolution,” he said. “There’s some great innovation.”
Newey, too, exuded a quiet confidence at the launch of the car, a sense that this was far from a shot in the dark.
Mercedes, to be fair, have not simply followed last year’s Red Bull template as other teams have but also demonstrated innovation of their own, in their sidepod configuration, in moving their cockpit back, as had been requested by Lewis Hamilton, and on rear and front wings.
Yet it is impossible not to consider the team will be spitting feathers if Red Bull manage to pull off the sidepod design they believed promised so much but were forced to abandon.
How all this shakes out, whether Red Bull have once more left their rivals for dead or even driven down a dead end, remains conjecture for the moment but not for much longer. For three short days beginning on Wednesday, testing will begin in Bahrain, before the first race at the Sakhir circuit on 2 March. There is precious little time so there will certainly be cards on the table.
Verstappen, ominously, believes Red Bull once more have a winning hand. “What I like about the team is that we had a great package,” he said. “But they took the chance to really go all out and try to make it better.”