Red Bull reveals the reason for making radical concept change for RB20 despite dominant 2023 campaign

Pierre Wache has lamented the radical changes brought to the RB20 despite a highly dominant campaign in the 2023 season.

Red Bull reveals the reason for making radical concept change for RB20 despite dominant 2023 campaign

Helmut Marko, Max Verstappen and Christian Horner (via IMAGO)

Red Bull was believed to take great learnings from the highly dominant 2023 campaign for the current season. However, Milton Keynes decided to approach the situation radically and bring in major changes to the chassis. This affected RB20’s performance as the team lost a lot of pace. The Austrian constructor has revealed the underlying reason behind the change in concept.

Pierre Wache, the Technical Director of Red Bull addressed the team’s struggles in recent times. Wache noted that Milton Keynes believed the competition to catch up quickly in the 2024 season.

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Hence, the Austrian constructor took the concept further to optimize the aerodynamics. The Frenchman accepted that the ‘risks’ that Red Bull took didn’t pay off as well as they anticipated.

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We assumed the competition would catch up quickly that's why we wanted to use the advantage to take the concept a step further in order to optimise the aerodynamics. We took some risks here, now it looks it hasn't paid off as we had hoped.
Pierre Wache told AMUS.de

However, despite the failure, Wache claimed that the risk was necessary. The oldest wind tunnel facility of Red Bull made the team suffer more than expected. Additionally, the fact that other teams would optimize their concept sooner or later pushed Milton Keynes to make the radical change. 

But this risk was necessary. We have the oldest wind tunnel in the entire field, detailed work suffers as a result. It was foreseeable that the others would optimise their concepts sooner or later. That's why we needed to take a radical step.
Pierre Wache added
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Pierre Wache revealed ‘mentality’ of Red Bull despite ongoing woes

Red Bull dared to experiment with their chassis despite the dominant RB19. This proved that the team was not afraid to take risks in the factory or the racetrack. Hence, this mentality enabled them to score so well in the past. Apart from this, Wache noted that the move couldn’t be labeled good or bad just yet as the latter half of the 2024 season is pending.

We are not afraid to take risks, whether in the factory, at the racetrack or in terms of strategy. That is the mentality of this team. I can't judge whether it was a good or bad move yet.
Pierre Wache noted
Max Verstappen, elmut Marko and Christian Horner
Max Verstappen, Helmut Marko and Christian Horner (Via: Imago)

The 2024 season has peaked in competition with Mercedes joining the battle for the top spot. Red Bull will have to continue to develop the chassis to not lose the development war down the season. McLaren has surfaced as the most dominant team on the grid amidst Red Bull’s struggles.

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