Red Bull’s Mercedes-inspired 2024 F1 innovations ‘not tactical’

Red Bull says the implementation of Mercedes-inspired solutions on its 2024 car is not tactical, citing that its development direction has only been tailored towards performance.

The Austrian outfit had revealed it was planning to embrace a process of evolution after last season’s RB19 machine was driven to victory in all but one of the 22 rounds.

However, Red Bull has plumped for some ambitious design choices that have been used and then dispensed with by Mercedes under the latest ground effect regulations.

The RB20 has reversed the sidepod inlet shape to adopt an overbite style not dissimilar to the ‘zeropod’ concept Mercedes crafted at the start of this rules cycle and has also taken inspiration from the marque’s W14 with deep gulleys in the engine cover.

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The reigning champion’s move to construct elements that its rivals opted to abandon has come unexpectedly amid the competition converging upon Red Bull’s prior solutions.

However, Red Bull boss Christian Horner has denied that it was a ploy conducted at the launch and insists that virtual runs have signified evident gains from those concepts.

“It’s not tactical, it’s based on performance and what we’re seeing through our simulation tools,” Horner asserted.

“Obviously the car looks quite visibly different in certain areas to last year.

Only the stopwatch will tell, but in a virtual world we wouldn’t have committed to this design if we didn’t feel it was better.”

Both drivers have praised Red Bull’s latest technical innovations, with Sergio Perez hailing it a “brave move” while three-time champion Max Verstappen labelled the RB20 as a product of “controlled aggression”.

Speaking to media including Motorsport Week at the car’s launch, Horner boasted that Red Bull’s latest creation was not a “conservative evolution” on its predecessor.

“Logically, there’s going to be convergence with stable regulations. We can see other cars have taken an influence from the RB19,” the Red Bull Team Principal commented.

“So, I think the team has done a wonderful job on RB20. They haven’t sat on their laurels, and you can see that they’ve pushed the boundaries with the car…

“You’re constantly looking to evolve. If you look at the attention to detail on the car, there’s some really exquisite detail. There’s been no complacency, they’ve continued to evolve and continue to push the boundaries.

“There’s great innovation on the car as well that no doubt will be scrutinised over the coming couple of weeks, but I think creativity has been strong in the team… It’s not a conservative evolution.”