MPH: New F1 cars resemble old Red Bull, but Newey's changed the game again

F1

Red Bull has released its 2024 F1 title contender — the RB20 — which boasts many noticeable changes compared to its title-winning predecessor. Mark Hughes analyses the car which could shake up the F1 world once again

Red Bull RB20 F1

Will Verstappen collect even more silverware at the wheel of his RB20?

Red Bull

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Mark Hughes

We have now seen nine of the 10 new cars (the Williams has yet to be revealed) and given that they have been released approximately in reverse order of the 2023 constructors’ position, it has formed something of a narrative. In this technical story each of the challengers to the dominant Red Bull team presented its 2024 weapon ahead of the big reveal of Red Bull itself – which in the final scene completely changed the whole story.

Just as the other teams were converging towards the sort of car which Red Bull produced two years ago and developed last year, the Milton Keynes outfit itself then appeared to move the game on, with an RB20 that redrew the lines. Ironically some of those lines bear a certain similarity to the original Mercedes reaction to these regulations but which Mercedes itself has now abandoned. However, the car around the similar vertical radiator inlet and high cooling shoulders is very different.

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Haas and Sauber, among the earliest revealers, showed refinements of cars which had already last year moved away from the out-washing sidepod concept they and engine supplier Ferrari took as their first reactions to the new regulations in ’22. Even before their ’24 cars were launched these two Ferrari customer teams had already moved towards the Red Bull ‘heavy undercut with downward ramp’ sidepod. The ’24 cars just took it a little further, as they’d been able to configure them around more suitable hard points of chassis and gearbox. In addition, Sauber moved to pushrod operation of its rear suspension, giving it a Red Bull-matching pull rod front/pushrod rear combination.

The junior Red Bull team, RB, showed a car very similar to the late-’23 version of the AlphaTauri AT04, but with more Red Bull-like radiator inlets and a switch to Red Bull pull-rod front suspension. Alpine reduced the bulk of its sidepod, making possible a bigger airflow-enhancing undercut and made a major change to the internals of its rear (pushrod) suspension to improve the car’s through-corner balance. Aston Martin, which takes its gearbox and rear suspension from Mercedes had made the switch from pull-rod to pushrod rear suspension, giving more volume for the crucial airflow around the diffuser. There were also more Red Bull RB19-like radiator inlets.

Visa Cash App RB Launch 2024

RB’s car takes after Red Bull’s RB19 — but looks far from Adrian Newey’s latest creation

Red Bull

Ferrari confirmed its full move away from the out-washing sidepod concept of 2022 and ’23 with what has become a ‘conventional’ undercut arrangement, but stayed with its pushrod front/pull-rod rear suspension layout. It also shortened its gearbox casing and lengthened the chassis, to stretch the sidepods to accommodate the re-sited radiators without increasing the car’s overall length.

McLaren, which already had a very Red Bull-looking car by the end of last season, gave the ’24 version a more extreme undercut by moving some radiator area further back, allowing the upper side impact bar to be exposed and used for aerodynamic effect. Mercedes revealed a very elegant-looking W15 which had abandoned the forward-siting of the cockpit and with an enhanced undercut sidepod and pushrod rear suspension.

RB20

Newey shows Red Bull drivers his newest creation

Red Bull

Red Bull RB20

RB20 sidepods bear a resemblance to Mercedes' rejected 'size zero' concept

Red Bull

Red Bull RB20

Will slim vertical radiator inlet and smaller sidepods make for an aerodynamic masterpiece?

Red Bull

Then the RB20 happened. The suspension was much the same. But virtually nothing else was. A slim vertical radiator inlet, sited low and hugging the chassis sides, exposed a simply enormous undercut for the front of the sidepod. That sidepod itself was way smaller than before and the whole rear bodywork of the car stopped very short, revealing lots of volume for the airflows to the rear wing and diffuser to exploit. How had this been possible? Where could the radiators be housed within such a small area? The coolers previously higher up around the centreline have been miniaturised and incredibly intricately shaped so as to be moved down – and that has seemingly opened up a whole new window of airflow-enhancing body design, enabling the underfloor to do even more powerful magic. That’s the theory anyhow.

Testing in Bahrain begins next week and we’ll see if this storyline has a further twist in the tale.

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