F1 News: Christian Horner Predicts Rival Cars To Look Like Red Bull's RB19 Next Year
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says that he expects rival cars to look like the RB19, so they're focussing on evolving its 2023 title contender into a more potent track tool for next year. But as the racing pack closes in, will the Milton Keynes squad be able to continue its era of dominance with the RB20 next year?
The wisdom that 'excellence needs little improvement' is evident in Red Bull's approach to the 2024 car. Instead of a radical transformation, the team is opting for an evolutionary upgrade on its title contender for next year. This decision is influenced by the near-perfect performance of the RB19, which secured victory in 21 out of 22 Grand Prix races.
The upper hand in 2023 helped the team start its homework a lot sooner on next season's car. But despite the time advantage, Horner expresses the possibility of the competition being a lot tighter next year, considering that several teams opted to adapt to Red Bull's concept for their 2024 challengers. Revealing more details, the team boss said:
“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.
“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.”
When asked what could be expected from Red Bull's 2024 challenger, Horner revealed:
“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.”
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