‘Radical’ concept change teased as Red Bull bid to ‘annihilate’ F1 2024 competition

While the RB19 already did a good job of schooling the field, Red Bull are reportedly preparing to step it up another notch for F1 2024.

The RB19 will go down in the Formula 1 history books as perhaps the greatest car ever seen, having claimed 19 of the 20 grand prix victories on offer so far in F1 2023.

Max Verstappen has claimed a record 17 of those in a campaign in which he has strolled to a third World Championship title in as many years.

Red Bull plotting ‘radical’ concept change for RB20

While most teams have now gravitated towards Red Bull’s downwash concept, having seen it work so well for the team dominating this era of ground effect aerodynamics, it would appear that Red Bull are now ready to move the goalposts.

As reported by La Gazzetta dello Sport, the way that the RB20 generates and distributes downforce compared to the RB19 will be ‘radically’ different, as the floor and venturi tunnels work in an alternate way to create the ground effect.

The RB20 is being described as a challenger which will take the concepts developed on the RB19 to an ‘extreme’ level, with the perception in the paddock being that Red Bull will be up to the task of “annihilating” their rivals once more in F1 2024.

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The RB19 is not a car carrying many weaknesses, but it is said that the strong winds in Friday qualifying at the Brazilian Grand Prix flagged one up, Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez reporting that the car felt “slowed down” and “unbalanced” by the gusts as if it had suffered suspension damage – something not experienced by the team before.

However, when this observation came up in the debrief, design chief Adrian Newey – joining remotely as he had been competing as the Classic 24 Hours at Daytona – assured the drivers that this issue would not be an issue with the RB20.

Red Bull has scored a sensational 782 points in F1 2023, more than double what closest challengers Mercedes have on the board, with two rounds remaining to stretch their tally even further.

There is still business to attend to as Sergio Perez bids to secure a P2 finish in the Drivers’ Championship, which would give Red Bull their first one-two result, with the signs already then looking ominous for the competition heading into F1 2024.

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