After months of speculation, Red Bull is all set to reveal their 2024 contender, the RB20, in four days. Expectations for the car are naturally high, given how utterly dominant the RB19 had been last year with a whopping 21 race wins out of 22. However, on the eve of the 2024 reveal, Ben Waterhouse, head of performance engineering at Red Bull has revealed that the team are behind schedule in terms of the development of the RB20.
Waterhouse revealed, “We set clear goals quite far back in the development process from the RB19 to the RB20. Overall, we managed to hit most of them. However, I wouldn’t say that everyone is satisfied, as there is still work to do to try to improve compared to the RB19,” as quoted by DAZN.
Waterhouse’s revelations come off the back of the team’s understanding of their 2023 challenger. The team noticed some “glaring” shortcomings and limitations on the RB19. And by admission, the team have failed to address the issues in totality when it comes to the RB20.
As such, the RB19 wasn’t invincible. In the 22 race calendar, the Marina Bay Circuit at Singapore proved to be its Achilles’ heel. The only non-Red Bull win came during the 2023 Singapore GP, but it also exposed just how troubled the car could be in certain situations as both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez failed to register even a podium.
Despite the RB20 setback, Red Bull has already shifted focus to 2025
Waterhouse also revealed that the team has already shifted its focus to the RB21. According to him, the RB20 has been in development for almost 6 months now. And despite running behind schedule on the development of the car, everyone in Milton-Keynes has already started working on its 2025 challenger.
Since 2022, the Bulls have been able to radically evolve their cars rather than having to redesign them from scratch every year. This boils down to the fact that the team has arguably nailed the 2022 regulations reset.
Naturally, with virtually wrapping up championships mid-season, the team has been able to focus on “next year” months before their rivals can since the last two seasons. This has caught the ire of Lewis Hamilton.
Last year, the seven-time world champion urged the FIA to intervene. Sky Sports F1 quoted him as saying, “I think the FIA should probably put a time when everyone is allowed to start developing on the next year’s car. So August 1, that’s when everybody can start so then no one can get an advantage on the next year, cause that sucks.”
While the FIA did not intervene, Max Verstappen responded to Hamilton’s plea with an iconic “Life is unfair” jibe.
