Red Bull complete F1 2024 launch season as new Mercedes wing scrutinised – F1 news round-up

Henry Valantine 15 Feb 2024 10:00 PM

The Red Bull RB20.

Thursday’s F1 news saw the completion of F1 2024 launch season, and we now know what each of the cars this season will look like on the grid.

Red Bull pulled the covers off the car they hope will take them to another World Championship double, and other teams will be hoping to track it down this season if they can.

PlanetF1.com was on the ground at Milton Keynes to hear from the key players involved, and with additional reporting from Thomas Maher, here is Thursday’s selection of F1 news.

Red Bull launch the RB20 at Milton Keynes base

The big news from the day is the launch of Red Bull’s newest challenger, the RB20.

The car has a lot to live up to, with its predecessor, the RB19, having won all but one of the 22 races last season – 19 of which in the hands of Max Verstappen alone.

The livery is mostly unchanged, as has come to be expected with Red Bull, but the bodywork looks perhaps more different than some were expecting it to.

A closer look at an intriguing new Mercedes front wing

Mercedes unveiled the W15 on Wednesday and took it for its first laps around a sodden Silverstone, but our tech writer Uros Radovanovic noticed that the new car’s front wing looks an innovative one.

With the car sporting a piece of kit already being dubbed a ‘legality wire’ to comply with FIA regulations, we’ve taken a closer look at what it means and how it may help the Silver Arrows moving forward this season.

Max Verstappen hits out at Christian Horner rift reports

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner is currently under an internal investigation for allegations he denies, but he was present at the team’s launch of the RB20 today as the team have not suspended him from work.

As was reigning World Champion Max Verstappen, who helped unveil the car he hopes will power him to a fourth consecutive title.

But when asked if there had been any kind of falling out between the two, the Dutchman was quick to shut that down immediately.

“Same as always, I can tell you that,” Verstappen told media including PlanetF1.com. “I don’t know who likes to write these kinds of things. Me and Christian is like always.”

Lando Norris urges nosy car watchers to ‘be patient’

McLaren also launched their ‘real’ car on Wednesday along with Mercedes, having unveiled the colours of the MCL38 almost a month ago in a surprise move by the Woking-based team.

Lando Norris remained tight-lipped about the innovations on the car however, with three days of pre-season testing to come for people to pore over the different cars on track in Bahrain.

He told media including PlanetF1.com when asked why their launch was short on details: “Because we can – because it’s a game of performance.

“Why would you ever want to give away anything? You’ll see what the car looks like, but you’ll see in two weeks or something. So, be patient!”

Charles Leclerc moves his music career up a gear

In other news, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc is going to release more of his music to the world as he confirmed a four-track piano EP would be released at midnight on Thursday.

He collaborated with French pianist Sofiane Pamart in the off-season to compose four new pieces, building on the three pieces of music he released to the wider public last year – which have already been streamed 20 million times on Spotify alone.

For anyone looking to learn how to play the songs, Leclerc also confirmed he will release the scores to the music too.

Mercedes Red Bull