Red Bull is addressing the “considerable limitations” the dominant RB19 had, with some clear targets having already been hit.
Having won 21 of 22 Grands Prix, the Red Bull RB19 became Formula 1’s most dominant car ever – its win percentage eclipsing that of McLaren’s 1988 MP4/4 which lost just one race of the 16-race calendar that season.
But, in Red Bull’s eyes, there’s still plenty of room for improvement to create a faster device to succeed it and, according to its latest prestige report, that would possibly be just that.
Even if that doesn’t seem to be the case given its win rate, the RB19 is far less comfortable in certain racing situations than Red Bull would have liked. In one of those scenarios where RB19 failed to show up in a weekend, their only defeat in Singapore, and it’s a key weakness that the Milton Keynes-based side looked to fill for RB20.
“We thought the RB19 had a lot of limitations,” Ben Waterhouse, Red Bull’s head of functional engineering, said in an interview with Racecar Engineering.
“If we look at Singapore, there are weaknesses. There are areas that we need to improve, whether it’s in high-speed or low-speed performance.
“At the same time, [the car] had some apparent strengths, which we need to build on as we try to deal with the weaknesses.
Where the RB19 performed well in terms of aerodynamic efficiency, with maximum load levels and low drag degrees. This made him particularly tough at Spa-Francorchamps, Silverstone and Suzuka, where Red Bull won with ease.
But twistier circuits such as Monaco and Singapore have exposed more weaknesses of the RB19. While Verstappen was winning in Monaco, Singapore in the end tripped the Milton Keynes giant by failing to finish in the top 3 on race day.
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With a tendency to understeer at low speeds, its force was also reduced when less smooth road surfaces required more ground clearance, such as on street circuits.
“That’s why we set transparent targets early in the progression process from RB19 to RB20,” Waterhouse explained.
“Overall, we’ve managed to succeed in the maximum of them. However, I wouldn’t say everyone is satisfied, because there is still work to be done to test the RB19. “
While the RB20 hasn’t even hit the track yet to begin pre-season testing, Red Bull is already looking at the RB21 and the car it will drive for the final year of the existing regulations.
Due to the scope of its dominance and the stability of regulations, concentrating resources over a long period of time is a delightful side effect for Red Bull. It is because of conditions like this that the FIA recently replaced its regulations to save the year 2026. -Specific aerodynamic tests or CFDs before the start of 2025.
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