Max Verstappen endorsed Red Bull’s decision to make bold changes to the car design which dominated last year’s world championship.
Red Bull won all bar one of last year’s 22 grands prix, Verstappen taking 19 victories for himself. However the new RB20 revealed today is noticeably different to its predecessor in several respects.
“I’m happy with the direction they chose,” Verstappen told media including RaceFans at the launch. “I saw the drawings at Abu Dhabi, at the last race, and I was like, wow, that’s quite different in a way. They’ve not been conservative, let’s say like that.”
Verstappen said Red Bull’s ambitious approach is “what I like about the team.”
“We had a great package, but they took the chance to be innovative and go all out, I would say, and try to make it better.
“Of course, time will tell if it’s really, really good. But from what I see within the team, everyone is just happy with what they have achieved in the wind tunnel. But then again, we don’t know. You can’t control what the other people do.”
He does not believe the team has taken a risk with its design changes. “I think it’s controlled aggressiveness,” said Verstappen. “Everyone is just happy, it doesn’t seem like it’s a question mark, like they’re not entirely sure.
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The reshaped engine cover on the RB20, which resembles the design used by Mercedes last year, is one distinctive feature of the new car. “I would still call it a Red Bull style,” said Verstappen.
The RB20 also appears to have adopted another feature common to recent Mercedes – narrow sidepod inlets, which were partly obscured from view beneath the lights at the car’s launch. Mercedes used a similar design throughout 2022 and for the first races of last season before moving away from what was dubbed the ‘zero sidepod’ design.
Team principal Christian Horner said the W14-esque engine cover design was “based on performance and what we’re seeing through our simulation tools.”
“Obviously the car looks quite visibly different in certain areas to last year,” he continued. “Only the stopwatch will tell, but in the virtual world, we wouldn’t have committed it to design if we didn’t feel it was better.”
“There’s some great innovation on the car as well that will no doubt get scrutinised over the coming weeks,” Horner added. “The creativity has been strong in the team. You can see that in some of…
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