And then there was one. Red Bull Racing is the final team to preview before the F1 season kicks off at Bahrain Wednesday for testing.
With the other nine teams, there are multiple storylines to cover, from the drivers, staff, and car performance. All those teams will be looking to improve for 2024.
For Red Bull, well, there’s not much to say.
F1 has been a sport long known for having teams that dominate the competition. But not before 2023 has the sport ever seen domination to the level of Red Bull, especially considering the level of competition in the modern day.
Red Bull lost one race during the entire 22-race season, the Singapore Grand Prix. It was a race where a fluke poor qualifying effort forced Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez to fight through the field during the race, preventing them from being able to reach the leaders. Despite not winning, the Red Bull lap times were topping the charts by the end of the race.
In every other race, it was pure domination. Verstappen won 19 times. Perez chipped in two more. While Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren, and Aston Martin bickered away for P2 in the standings, Red Bull drove off into the distance, winning by double-digit seconds more often than not.
The best car. The best driver. The best crew. The best staff. 2023 was a culmination of Red Bull having all of that, and it resulted in a historical beatdown of the competition.
The question is, how much can they actually improve?
Red Bull had reported diminishing returns on their development for their 2024 car. This could be smoke and mirrors, but their level of performance makes it plausible. There’s only so quick a car can go when developing under the same regulations for three straight years now.
Nonetheless, Red Bull revealed the RB20 last week, which looked shockingly different from 2023’s RB19. One of the most intriguing aspects was hints of copying Mercedes’ famed zero-pod design which failed to live up to expectations. Mercedes abandoned the concept midway through last season, but it seems like Red Bull has taken inspiration and tried something similar.
From an outside perspective, the RB20 appears to be a bit of a risk. Introducing such radical concepts to a car that was already well ahead of the competition opens up some risks.
But if we’ve learned anything from the past few years, it’s that doubting Red Bull is unwise. Verstappen is still the best driver in the sport. Chief Technical Officer Adrian Newey can lead development better than anyone else. They have helped turn Red Bull into a juggernaut team, ravaging the competition to the brink.
In all likelihood, 2024 will be another year of Red Bull superiority.
Brace for it. The storm is coming again.
Image courtesy of F1.com
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