Can the RB20 live up to its predecessor, the dominant RB19?
The dominant package during the 2023 Formula 1 season was Red Bull’s RB19. Their challenger for last year powered the team to their second-straight Constructors’ Championship, and Max Verstappen to his third-straight Drivers’ title. Red Bull won all but one of last season’s grands prix, and Sergio Pérez enjoyed a second-place finish in the Drivers’ Championship as well.
So … the RB20 has some huge tires to fill.
Red Bull introduced the RB20 to the world on Thursday through a streaming event. The livery looks very similar to what we have seen from the team in previous years (something Verstappen hinted at during a recent live stream):
Most notably, Red Bull did not display the sidepod inlets on the RB20, leading to speculation over whether that design will be a departure from the RB19.
Adrian Newey joined the launch event to discuss his own journey in F1, as well as his time with Red Bull. Newey, the team’s Chief Technical Officer, is considered one of — if not the greatest — engineer in F1 history:
Then it was time to meet the RB20. Verstappen and Pérez joined Team Principal Christian Horner and Naomi Schiff on stage to display the RB20 for the first time:
“The whole team has put together an incredible concept,” said Pérez. “It should be another great season for the team.”
For Horner, the RB20 is an “evolution” of last year’s dominant RB19.
“You can see it’s an evolution of last year’s car,” Horner said during the streaming event. “But as our 20th version, the guys haven’t been conservative. You can see they’ve been quite aggressive in certain areas, still pushing the boundaries.
“We’re conscious that our opponents are still going to be pushing very hard. We’ve seen a few cars being released that look similar in theme to what we launched last year. So you can see all the men and women behind the scenes have been working very hard and some of the detail on the car is absolutely exquisite.”
Subsequent images hinted at the presence of vertical inlets:
The unveiling comes amidst some inner turmoil at Red Bull. Horner is facing an internal investigation into “inappropriate behavior” that was launched by the team’s parent company, and is being conducted by outside counsel. While speculation has run rampant in the media regarding the alleged behavior, what is known is that Horner participated in a lengthy interview in London last Friday, and that the investigation is ongoing. Horner has denied any wrongdoing.
It is unclear when that investigation will be concluded.
