Red Bull RB20 embodies Mercedes ideas
What you didn’t expect: while all the teams were copying the Red Bull RB19 concepts, Adrian Newey with RB20 he chose solutions opposite to his previous choicesperhaps driving the chief designers to despair, who abandoned the same ideas that now characterize the new Milton Keynes car.
The Red Bull RB20, from an aerodynamics perspective, represents a complete break from the car with which Max Verstappen won his third world title. Innovation is also an opportunity to take concepts that have been used in other cars and demonstrate that they will succeed at Red Bull.
Eat three macro-zones of the car, revealing the most significant changesbut a closer look reveals that every detail of the car has been tweaked to the extreme in order to keep the weight below the FIA limit of 798kg.
Vertical radiator cap, without tray
The most striking change concerns the entrance to the pontoons: one might expect an almost closed entrance at the front, like the Aston Martin AMR24, which sucks air from above, but instead Newey has shuffled the cards: the opening is now high. and narrow, like the Mercedes W13 and W14, which were so criticized by their own team.
The bottom tray disappears to make room for upper spoiler profile supporting the mirror. This is an element that is attached to the pontoons and can change shape.
The upper part of the side pontoons does not show Red Bull tradition: the opening is exaggerated. Definitely, air flow from below has increased and there is no more contamination between the upper and lower profile flows.
On the RB19 there was a flare with a step that disappeared and the pontoon expresses the ideal shape of the wing. Newey, in pursuit of his rivals, did not allow himself to fall into the temptation to dig a “bathtub”, but instead retained the trend-setting pontoons.
An extreme bazooka knocks down a Red Bull RB20.
The central part of the car is long bazooka which is an extension of the tail section of the Halo mounts to the chassis. Also in this case, the reference is taken from Mercedes, although the two sausage-shaped side lungs are clearly higher than on the W14, and where they approach the single rear wing pylon they bend sharply downward, revealing hot air ducts that should not impair the efficiency of the two-beam ailerons.
The Red Bull RB20 airbox continues the Honda tradition.
He air chamber This is still a regular Honda powerplant and the engine cover is of the usual dimensions, which is a sign that the central radiator has been retained, but it is interesting to note that there is still a passage between the engine cover and the bazooka for air to flow from the cabin and into the rear wing
If you look from the outside, The RB20 is quite impressive because the bazooka has a side wall that extends right to the bottom.. About a third of the way up, the vent that was also there last year, but more hidden, became more visible. This could be a three-in-one exhaust gas temperature control hole.
Push-type rear suspension
The rear suspension has not changed: the scheme remains pusher, and the kinematics have been updated to adapt to the new aerodynamics. The rear wing has a main profile with scoop quite pronounced, suitable for routes with medium to high loads, while flap the mobile is a long rope with a deep V in the center.
Long nose or is it just a provocation?
The Red Bull RB20 is also capable of hitting from the front: the nose looks like a dolphin with a protruding nose in the first element of the front spoiler.
Newey and Vache also went against the grain in this regard, compared to Mercedes, Aston Martin and Ferrari, who had their noses to the first wing. It must be said that the nose folds back and is practically flat, but there are those who doubt it, because it looks like there could be an unpainted cover discovered during pre-season testing in Bahrain.
Front suspension traction as a sign of continuity
Front suspension traction: Well-known concepts taken to extremes. The front arm almost protrudes from the chassis, and the rear is lower than in 2023. A winning decision cannot be changed. Mechanically, continuity was sought because the Red Bull RB20 marks a complete break from Milton Keynes’ latest aerodynamic shapes.
It’s clear that Adrian Newey doesn’t just love winning. He wants to win big…
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