F1 News: Red Bull RB20 Could Be "A Little Joke" According To Pundit

Sky F1 presenter claims Red Bull's presentation car could be different from the car to be used in pre-season testing.

Red Bull surprised everyone when it revealed the 2024 RB20 with Mercedes-styled sidepods from 2023, as well as from the lengthy cooling gulleys on the engine cover that Mercedes used last year. This led Bernie Collins from Sky F1 to be unsure if the Milton Keynes outfit will be testing the same car in Bahrain during pre-season testing, scheduled between 21 and 23 February. 

Key Takeaways:

• Red Bull's unveiling of the 2024 RB20 with Mercedes-inspired sidepods has sparked speculation about the car's design and potential testing strategies during pre-season testing in Bahrain.
• Questions arise regarding whether Red Bull's RB20 is a playful imitation or experiment with the Mercedes W14's design changes from the previous year, introducing uncertainty about the Milton Keynes team's intentions.
• Sky F1 presenter Bernie Collins suggests skepticism about the RB20 unveiled on February 15, speculating that it might be a decoy, and anticipates the actual 2024 title contender to be revealed during pre-season testing in Bahrain, adding intrigue to the qualifying sessions.

The Mercedes-style changes on the RB20 led many to wonder if Red Bull was playfully mocking Mercedes, which incorporated those changes into its W14 F1 car last year as an effort to develop a title contender in the ground effect era. 

There are also inquiries about whether Red Bull is testing the design approach that Mercedes adopted for the W14, exploring the possibility of uncovering performance aspects that the Brackley team might have missed last year.

Considering the ifs and buts, Collins is of the opinion that Red Bull unveiled a dummy car on the 15th of February and that the actual 2024 title contender of the Milton Keynes outfit will be unveiled tomorrow in Bahrain. Speaking on the Sky F1 Podcast, she said:

“I think maybe years in F1 have made me suspicious.

“So let’s see the car [RB20] that rolls out on Day One in Bahrain because I’m not sure it’s going to be that car.

“This could just be a little joke.”

Has Red Bull Undone Itself?

If Red Bull turns up with the same car tomorrow, Collins suggests there is every chance Red Bull might have fallen into the same trap that Mercedes fell into in 2022. She added:

“If they do rock up with that car, then it’s a brave, brave move because they could have easily continued to develop the car they had. That would have been, I think, the safer bet.

“The worry is, and we obviously know Adrian Newey and the Red Bull team are very, very good, strong aerodynamic designers, they have proven that year after year, but Mercedes obviously felt it could work when they put that on the first car.

“They obviously had enough simulation data, and aero data, and all of these things to say this car is the best we can do.

“So something is amiss between what they thought that car could do, and what it could actually do, and have Red Bull done the miss in the other direction?

“I’m not surprised they’ve been working on it, because as soon as you see another car with a very different concept, you start to look at have you missed something. Even a slower car, you start to think, is there something there that we’re missing?

“So I’m not surprised that they’ve been looking at it in the wind tunnel and not surprised that they’ve been experimenting with if they can get more out of it.

“I’m just surprised that they’ve gone with it. So they’ve clearly – if they go with it, they’ve clearly seen something that means they think they can beat their previous-developed car.

“But is there a miss in the simulation that has also convinced Mercedes over the past two years to stick with it?

“So if that car rocks up, which I’m going to be very interested to see, Bahrain qualifying is going to be really interesting.”

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