The RB19’s dominance in 2023, winning 21 out of 22 races and gathering 860 points, marked it as a top F1 car, especially under the ground effects regulations since 2022.
Adrian Newey explained Red Bull’s tactical decision with the RB20 for 2024 to maintain their competitive edge.
Despite their significant lead, Red Bull faces the challenge of diminishing returns on development as the regulations mature and other teams catch up, a common trend in F1’s cyclical rule changes.
“It is very much a third evolution of the 2022 car,” said Adrian Newey told on the in-house Red Bull Talking Bull podcast.
“Last year’s car was an evolution of the 2022 car, with its main points [of development] being the normal winter development in terms of aerodynamics, some understanding on what we need to do with suspension to try and improve the car.
“We never got down to the weight limit in 2022 and this year’s car is the third evolution of that original RB18. Now what we don’t know is will the third evolution be too conservative while others have done something different. We just don’t know.
“It is difficult and there is that kind of ‘should we have a group that goes out and looks at left-field ideas?’ or do we keep developing the route we’ve taken.
“We’re resource-limited – so we can’t do everything, we can’t look at every avenue, so we’ve taken the approach of developing what we’ve got, and hopefully that will be the prudent and correct decision.”
