The utterly dominant season that Red Bull has enjoyed in 2023 has been majorly credited to Max Verstappen and the RB19’s design genius, Adrian Newey. However, in the aftermath of a historic season, Verstappen has credited an unsung hero within the team who has been as important as the Dutchman himself.
Verstappen is talking about Rudy Van Buren, the Bulls’ simulator driver. He told Viaplay (as quoted by GPFans.com), “What I ultimately like about Rudy is that he can put himself in my shoes, he knows how I drive, but he can also put himself in ‘Checo’ and then he drives the car that way and that is very difficult. Not very many drivers. Most drivers just drive the way they drive, but they cannot imagine how someone else drives and he can do that very well.”
Verstappen is aware about the work being done in the factory to ensure that there are tangible results on the racetrack. “Of course I talk to Rudy quite a lot. Also about what we can do with the car. He is of course also busy with next year’s development. I test it, he tests it again and then we have our feedback,” Verstappen added.
It’s only because of the hours that Van Buren puts in with the simulator that the team collect the requisite data for development. According to the three-time world champion, Van Buren has been instrumental in ensuring that the RB19 became the beast it was. And the RB20 is being blessed with similar lengths of effort.
The RB20 is expected to be one step ahead of the dominant RB19
Max Verstappen was particularly impressed by Van Buren’s skill at assuming the role of the driver he was ‘simulating’. He could put himself in the shoes of either Verstappen or Perez and extract a holistic set of details and feedback for the team to employ in terms of setup and development.
As explained by the Dutchman himself, the constant back and forth of information has been critical to the success the team has enjoyed this year. He explained, “Sometimes questions I or he can try something out and then he will come back with feedback.”
The Milton Keynes team has already started prepping the RB20 for racing action. With the chatter discussing the aerodynamic evolution of the 2024 challenger, the paddock expects yet another Red Bull whitewash next season.
