Red Bull are still the team to beat in 2024 but they have a closer fight on their hands this year.
Of the six grands prix so far, Red Bull have won four. Ferrari capitalised on a reliability problems for Max Verstappen to win in Australia, and Lando Norris’ victory for McLaren in Miami was aided by the appearance of the Safety Car.
But the update McLaren introduced that weekend brought them closer to Red Bull, and Norris said he was quicker than Verstappen even before the world champion picked up damage when he went off and hit a bollard.
As the reigning world champions, Red Bull are permitted less aerodynamic development time than their rivals. They therefore have to choose carefully which areas of their car they concentrate on.
They have produced updates in three major areas for this weekend’s race as they seek to remain one step ahead of the advancing competition.
Front wing
Compared to the version run at previous races, Red Bull’s reshaped front wing has a longer upper chord which the team say produces more load.
This required altering the adjustable elements of the front wing, which had a knock-on effect of the rest of the design. “In changing the moving flap geometry, the fixed flap elements into the nose box had to be revised as the parts cannot be treated in a modular fashion,” the team noted in its submission to the FIA.
The leading edge of the endplate has also been tweaked. This “improves the stability in yaw,” according to Red Bull.
Floor
The outer edge wings on the RB20’s floor have been repositioned “to extract locally more load whilst maintaining the flow stability criteria,” say the team. The floor surface ahead of these has been lowered to improve the airflow to them.
Rear wheel bodywork
The final revision to the RB20 has been done with the specific demands of the Imola circuit in mind. The brake duct exits have been reprofiled to improve the flow of air which cools the discs and other components. As a result of that, Red Bull has also altered the winglets around the ducts.
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2024 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix
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