Red Bull admits facing ‘unexpected surprises’ over RB20 upgrades amidst recent struggles

Red Bull Technical Director Pierre Wache pointed out the difficulties teams face over extracting more downforce in 2024.

Red Bull admits facing ‘unexpected surprises’ over RB20 upgrades amidst recent struggles

Christian Horner and RB20 (via IMAGO)

Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing dominated Formula 1 for the past two seasons. However, the reigning world champions face a real threat for the 2024 title with rivals closing in on Milton Keynes. Now, Red Bull Technical Director Pierre Wache highlighted the difficulties in car development this season.

Wache claimed that with the ground-effect regulations, it was easy for teams to find more downforce for their cars. However, the problem was that it was challenging to place the acquired downforce where it is needed. Pierre Wache admitted that this in turn could risk in instability when it came to the RB20’s performance.

It's very easy to find more downforce, but very difficult to place it where you want it. This then creates instability.
Pierre Wache told Auto-motor-und-sport
YouTube video

Moreover, the Red Bull chief asserted that such effects were difficult to correlate. Subsequently, Pierre Wache pointed out that the ground-effect cars often lead to unexpected surprises for teams in this regard. Moreover, Red Bull losing Adrian Newey might also have had an impact in terms of car development so far.

FS Video
These effects are difficult to correlate. With these ground effect cars, you can have a lot of unexpected surprises.
Pierre Wache said
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Red Bull ‘lost its way’ over RB20 development

Red Bull Racing made big changes for the RB20 despite dominating last season. The Austrian team hoped that this would allow them to stay on top of the competition. Pierre Wache claimed that they changed the car concept to increase the working window this season. Unfortunately. Wache confessed that Milton Keynes might’ve lost their way a little in this process. Although, the team hopes to bounce back after the summer break.

Max Verstappen, Helmut Marko and Christian Horner (via IMAGO)
Max Verstappen, Helmut Marko and Christian Horner (via IMAGO)
It's very difficult to turn [the current working window] around. We have changed the concept of the car to increase the window, but unfortunately we have lost our way a little.
Pierre Wache explained

Certainly, Red Bull is facing a tough challenge when it comes to in-season development this season. The reigning world champions must find a way to extract more performance to give Max Verstappen an edge against McLaren and Mercedes. However, it remains to be seen how things pan out for the Austrian team in the last 10 races of the season.

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