Red Bull surprised many in Formula 1 when their new RB20 appeared for the first time at their launch.
The team had been expected to reveal a car which was a clear evolution of its championship-dominating predecessor. But while the RB20 clearly comes from the same lineage, it also owes a debt to other, less successful designs.
Two striking aspects of the car’s design immediately drew comparison with Mercedes W15. Its sidepod inlets have been drastically narrowed, and now include vertical intakes much like those on Mercedes’ ‘zero sidepod’ design, plus additional thin horizontal intakes above.
“For greater efficiency, the inlet shape has been revised to better utilise the available pressure to feed the radiators or primary heat exchangers downstream,” said the team in its submission to the FIA. This has allowed the leading edge of the sidepod to be reshaped, improving the airflow around the nearby entrance to the floor.
This drew immediate comparison with Mercedes’ old design partly because the horizontal slit was spotted on the car at its launch before the vertical inlet above it, which was cast in a dark shadow from the strong lights above. When the RB20’s sidepod arrangement is compared directly to last year’s car the relationship between the two designs becomes more obvious.
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The engine cover also prompted comparisons to last year’s Mercedes, with its tall cooling channels running along its length towards the rear wing
Its tall, hunched sides extend from the cockpit before sloping down in front of the exhaust. The team says this is intended to refine the airflow to the car’s rear wing, allowing it to operate more efficiently:
These features provoked much discussion because of their obvious resemblance to a car which Mercedes began to redesign soon after it launched. Its slim sidepods were gone by the Monaco Grand Prix in May.
While Red Bull acknowledged those similarities at the time, it has also acknowledged the influence of other teams’ cars on its latest creation.
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The floor edge is one area where Red Bull says the RB20 “takes inspiration from competitor cars.” It describes the new geometry along the side as being “more…
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