All 10 F1 teams have already revealed their cars for the 2024 season, which will kickstart in a couple of weeks in Bahrain. The major difference that has been spotted in the design of the cars is the side pods. And Red Bull has arguably delivered the most intriguing one.
Veteran F1 journalist Craig Scarborough recently sat down with ex-Ferrari manager Peter Windsor to discuss the technical revelations of the 2024 season. While discussing Ferrari’s SF-24, Scarborough revealed the importance of the side pods.
Quite nice to see some differnces here and there regarding sidepods inlets in 2024 #F1 pic.twitter.com/rMVFUQqwJ1
— Junaid #JB17 (@JunaidSamodien_) February 14, 2024
“The shape of the side pods now has become the secondary defining features beyond the floor and suspension,” explained Scarborough on Windsor’s YouTube Channel. All ten teams are now focusing on how to best optimize the airflow from the front of the cars to the diffuser.
The side pods play a crucial part in this transfer as they act as a channeling intermediary once the front wings and wheel flaps have done their bit. Naturally, teams are looking for elegant solutions whilst keeping the shape of the side pods as large as possible to ensure maximum airflow.
That being said, Red Bull’s RB20 stands as a stark outlier to the general design philosophy adopted by the teams so far, in terms of their own sidepods.
Are Red Bull on the cusp of playing the biggest gamble in F1 history?
The exact specifications of the RB20’s side pods are yet to be known. This is because, throughout the reveal event and the shakedown at Silverstone, the Milton Keynes-based team has very cleverly camouflaged its side pods.
Hence, there isn’t a definitive picture depicting the actual contours of it. Naturally, many paddock insiders and technical analysts have hesitated from passing any judgment yet.
However, the reports doing the rounds suggest that Red Bull have seemingly adopted Mercedes’ flawed ‘zero-pods‘ concept (with a small vertical inlet rather than the conventional horizontal side pod inlets) and will develop a closer design into the first few races of the season.
⚠️ | Red Bull looks to be preparing to use a “more advanced” version of the Mercedes-like sidepods
In Japan, where temperatures will drop in early April and cooling will be less necessary, Red Bull will likely switch to a design similar to Mercedes’ zeropod design.#F1 pic.twitter.com/0Tsg2d80vU
— Fastest Pitstop (@FastestPitStop) February 17, 2024
Mercedes’ attempt at the zero-pods failed miserably. It led to Lewis Hamilton suffering two consecutive winless seasons and demoted the team to P3 in the Constructors’ Championship in 2022.
The team then decided to drop that design path from the 2023 Monaco GP onwards. The resultant car with more conventional side pods was pacier than its predecessor. However, it gave rise to another problem as it exposed many inherent flaws of the W14. As a result, the team finished without a win last year.
But if Adrian Newey can master the design with Red Bull, then he could go down as the greatest aerodynamicist in the sport’s history.
