Christian Horner explains that Red Bull has more room to develop for 2024, citing their humble adjustments with the RB19. Despite their dominance over the last twelve months, the reigning Champions feel the best is yet to come.
There is no denying Red Bull’s dominance in Formula 1 this season. Excluding a few outliers, Max Verstappen was in a league of his own throughout 2023. The question now is whether anyone can challenge the Austrian team.
On paper, there are clear threats. Ferrari and Mercedes are their traditional rivals, whilst McLaren is re-emerging as a genuine threat. Andrea Stella’s team put the rest of F1 on notice with their sensational rate of development post-Austria.
However, even with these gains, Verstappen still enjoyed a considerable advantage over his rivals. Even after diverting their resources to the 2024 car in the summer, Adrian Newey and Pierre Wache’s RB19 was without peer.
Speaking after the Abu Dhabi GP, Christian Horner revealed the relatively limited changes to this year’s RB19.
“What it has achieved is quite outstanding. So much of it was carry-over from the RB18,” he told Sky Sports.
“Part of the chassis was carried over, a lot of the suspension was carried over, the gearbox was exactly the same.
“So probably 60% of the car actually raced last year [2022] as well.”
These quotes summarise the predicament Red Bull’s rivals face over the winter. On one hand, the aerodynamic and engineering excellence of the RB19 cannot be denied.
On the other, it must be said that whilst Red Bull made reasonable gains, they benefited from their closest rivals (Mercedes and Ferrari) going backwards or sideways over winter.
This means that Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren must take a huge step over the winter – even if the Austrian team only makes modest gains itself.
Moreover, with Adrian Newey’s team setting the example with this generation of F1 cars, it remains uncertain if their rivals can innovate their solutions to surpass the 2023 Champions.
Author: Jaden Diaz-Ndisang
