Red Bull seem to be in no mood to stop their domination in F1, as a recent report reveals the Austrian team is on a path of having the ‘perfect’ car in 2024. As per Italian publication Gazzetta dello Sport, the RB20 will be a radically different concept than the all-conquering RB19, stretching the Bulls’ advantage over the field even further than it has been this year.
Paolo Filisetti of La Gazzetta dello Sport claimed (as quoted on X), “The RB20 will see a major aerodynamic revolution.
“It appears that the vertical load will be generated and distributed in a radically different way than now. The floor will function differently, adopting a very different volumetric conformation of the Venturi channels.”
In 2023, the Bulls have dominated endlessly, winning every Grand Prix run except for the Singapore GP. However, at the 2023 Sao Paulo GP last week, the Bulls seemed to suffer. “Not even gusts of wind would create any more problems as happened in the Brazilian GP,” revealed Filisetti while talking about the 2024 iteration of the car.
While the RB20 will maintain aesthetic similarities to the RB19, the aerodynamic overhauls will ensure that the team rectifies the problems that surfaced in Brazil and thrive throughout the next year.
Rivals have already thrown in the towel for 2024 against Red Bull
“The Red Bull, I think, is so far away – I think they’re probably going to be very clear for the next couple of years,” is what Lewis Hamilton had to say after the race in Brazil. And other drivers and team personnel seem to have the same conclusion about the Bulls.
The fear that has seeped into the rivals is due to the utter domination the RB19 served upon them. As a result, the team got to work on 2024 much sooner than anyone else could. Christian Horner told The Race, “We came out with a very strong car at the beginning of the year and we’ve been able to apply most of that development time, from quite early in the season, to next year’s car.”
McLaren, Mercedes, and Ferrari seem like the only viable teams that could potentially breach the gap to the Bulls in 2024. While they have clawed back a huge chunk of performance this year, Red Bull’s head-start for 2024 may reduce their efforts to naught.
The most likely expiry date for the current rate of dominance for the Bulls might be the 2026 regulations overhaul. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc seems to agree as he told ESPN, “For sure they have a really big margin and it’s going to be very difficult to catch them before the change of regulations.”
