Red Bull expects most sides will copy the car philosophy of the title-winning RB19 as the reigning champions pursue “evolution rather than revolution” for next season.
After winning 10 of the last 11 races of the 2022 season, removing excessive weight from the RB18 enabled Red Bull to further extend its advantage over the rest last year.
The Austrian outfit was victorious in 21 of the 22 rounds to seal the Constructors’ crown with record rounds to spare, ending 454 points clear of second-placed Mercedes.
While Red Bull opted to cease development on its 2023 charger in August, Horner insists that the RB20 won’t see substantial changes as it bids to remain at the head of the field.
When asked to discuss Red Bull’s approach to designing its 2024 challenger, Horner said: “Evolution not revolution.
“All areas have been revisited in the car, and we can’t afford to have any complacency.
“So the car is very much an evolution of a theme. We’re not reinventing the wheel, and that has been very much the route of the engineering path over the last 12 months.”
But Horner has warned that Red Bull won’t receive the maximum benefit from diverting attention to this year early due to the team’s reduced wind tunnel testing allowance.
“With the lack of wind tunnel time that we’ve had, even though we transitioned early, we still had less time in practice than a great many of our opponents,” he added.
“So, we’ve had to be very frugal and selective of where we apply that time for RB20, and that will obviously try to build on the strengths of RB19.”
Red Bull had expected a sterner test this season from both Ferrari and Mercedes but its two main rivals were hampered from the outset by prioritising wrong car philosophies.
Although its closest contenders reverted to the downwash sidepod solution, both sides remained limited by the chassis design of their launch concepts under the cost cap.
However, with Red Bull chasing “diminishing returns” under this regulation cycle, Horner believes the grid will continue to close up as more teams replicate the World Champions.
“I’m fully expecting with stable regs and diminishing returns for us – because I think we got to the top of the curve quicker than others – the field is going to converge,” he noted.
“There’s always a reset as you go into the following year, and I’m convinced that you’ll see a lot more cars that perhaps look like an RB19 philosophy.
“If you stand still in this business, you tend to be going backwards. And I think that we have got up that curve quicker than others. But we’re into a law of diminishing returns.”
Discussion about this post