Red Bull dominated the 2023 F1 season, winning 21 out of the 22 races. Now, in the aftermath of a historic season, team principal, Christian Horner has revealed that much of the RB19’s interior was borrowed from its predecessor, the RB18, including the gearbox.
Despite the team transferring crucial components of the car from its 2022 challenger, the team eased to victory in an utterly dominant fashion. The team sealed the Constructors’ championship as early as the Japanese GP and Max Verstappen bagged his third consecutive world title during the Sprint Race in Qatar.
Horner also revealed on the feature with Sky Sports F1 that much of the chassis and the suspension of the RB19 was a carryover from last year’s car. However, the gearbox on the RB19 was an exact piece picked up from the RB18 itself.
The gearbox on a Formula 1 car is an integral part of the entire machinery. Naturally, the sport has also placed a restriction on how many gearboxes can be used by teams over the course of a season. The $314,000 worth component is limited to 4 every season with each additional gearbox warranting a grid penalty which Verstappen took at the 2023 Belgian GP.
Red Bull nailed the 2022 regulation reset
2022 was the dawn of a new era in this sport. And the Bulls have arguably nailed the latest regulations. A testament to this is the fact that they registered arguably the greatest F1 season in the history of this sport all the while using older components that were used last season.
But with 2023 also in the rearview mirror, the Milton-Keynes-based team has now embarked on their 2024 journey. The RB20 has been in the works for quite some time now. Naturally, the RB19 was not the most-developed car out of the MK7 lot.
Adrian Newey has himself revealed that he has spent virtually no time developing the current car. Even Lewis Hamilton remarked how the team had stopped working on the RB19 since August, yet they went on to register a record-breaking season.
The design team at Red Bull, spearheaded by Newey is rumored to be getting the big guns out for 2024. Even though the 2024 challenger will be an evolution of this year’s car, it is reported that the RB20 will eliminate the weaknesses of the RB19 to make it one of the most complete cars to ever grace this sport.
