Credits: IMAGO / Michael Potts
The RB20 might be an aggressive successor to the ever-dominant RB-19 from last year, but the 2024 challenger from Red Bull is still far from perfection. Despite claiming three 1-2 finishes in four races coming into this season, Adrian Newey’s car may have an Achilles heel that could show up on street circuits from the Miami GP onwards.
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Max Verstappen, speaking about the same, revealed that the car still has its vulnerability in low-speed corners and issues with tire graining despite the improvement over the winter. The RB19 struggled in this sector last year and the underwhelming performance in Singapore last year was a perfect example of that. Similarly, they could struggle in Miami which has some low-speed corner sections and is a hybrid street track.
“The RB20 has improved in low-speed corners, but street circuits don’t just have low-speed corners as a feature,” said the Dutchman, who took the pole position in Melbourne [which is also a street track] despite the issue, as per FormulaPassion. “We will have to verify the behavior of the car when passing over curbs, in absorbing dips and bumps.”
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This comes amid the contrasting situation with Ferrari, as their car has improved significantly off late. The SF-24 is excellent in low-speed corners, the exact sector where the RB20 is weak. Therefore, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc can exploit this and pose serious problems for Verstappen and Co. at street tracks like Miami and particularly Monaco. Given how Monaco has plenty of low-speed corners and several bumps and kerbs, it could test the RB20 more rigorously, and Ferrari could benefit.
Despite the clear deficit from the Italian outfit as noticed in the Japanese GP where they were the second best by a big margin, Frederic Vasseur’s team still holds the chance to cover up the gap with a car that has improved straight-line speed, race pace, and low tire degradation.
Red Bull well aware of the Ferrari threat
Following their debacle in Australia, Red Bull were reluctant to take any gamble and therefore, brought in some upgrades to keep their hold on the championship. The RB20 was spotted with an upgraded inlet and that surely did its work in Suzuka with another 1-2 finish at the end of the day.
It surely put Ferrari into its place after the Milton-Keynes-based team claimed their authority yet again, but one must consider that the Italian outfit are yet to come up with major upgrades.
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As per reports, the Maranello-based team are all set to introduce major upgrades to the SF-24 at Imola during the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, which comes right after the Miami race.
Nevertheless, one must take into account that Red Bull did not push any significant enhancement into its RB19 after the summer break. Despite this, they managed to win all the remaining races except the one in Singapore. This reflects that the RB20 may have a lot of potential upgrades in store that could unlock more performance.
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