The plans of the ‘Big-4’ for the final stretch of 2024: Red Bull Racing

The Texas GP kicks off the first of two back-to-back GP trios that will bring us to the end of this year’s Formula 1 championship on December 8 in Abu Dhabi.

The changes the teams will make to their cars for either the Texas race or one that follows are likely to be the last for this year. And for Red Bull in particular, they are particularly crucial as the Milton Keynes team tries to defend its constructors’ crown against McLaren – as well as Max Verstappen’s title under threat from Lando Norris.

So let’s see, with a series of articles, which started yesterday (3/10) and will be completed on Sunday (6/10), what changes we should expect in the cars of the so-called “Big-4”, McLaren, Red Bull , Ferrari and Mercedes, in Texas. After the McLaren MCL38 yesterday, we continue today with the car of the champion Red Bull:

Red Bull RB20
RBR started the year with a bold design risk with the RB20, which many felt was unnecessary. With Verstappen’s walk-off wins in 4 of the first 5 races of 2024 they seemed to be vindicated, but things turned out very differently.

Ferrari won in Australia and Monaco, and McLaren in Miami – the first race of the MCL38’s major upgrade. So the emergence of the Maranello and Woking teams has prompted RBR to be aggressive in planning the development of the RB20 from May onwards.

This is something that was also confirmed by the technical director, Pierre Vasse. “We assumed that the competition would catch up to us quickly, and for that reason we wanted to go the concept us one step further to optimize its aerodynamic performance”the Frenchman told German magazine Auto Motor und Sport.

“We took some risks, but they didn’t seem to pay off. We have the oldest wind tunnel of any team, so we suffer in the detail work that needs to be done. It was a foregone conclusion that the others would optimize their designs sooner or later.

For this we needed to take a radical step. We are not afraid to take risks, whether in the factory, on the track or in strategy. That’s the mentality of this team. I can’t judge, yet, if it was a good or bad move.” added Pierre Vasse.

The phrase “didn’t seem to work” de Vasse was rather modest in describing the problematic applications of the RB20’s upgrades in the summer’s races – all the way to Monza on 1 September. The words of Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko at Monza were that “the car jerks too much towards the ends. Even small changes are enough to send it off the track.”

Still, the champion wasn’t willing to go down without a fight. A number of beneficial changes were made at the last two GPs, in Azerbaijan and Singapore – changes that largely remedied the major balance and set-up problems caused by the RB20’s summer floor redesign.

Team principal Christian Horner explained that the Italian race was when RBR began to understand the RB20’s problems: “In Monza we saw the first signs of our problem: when we removed the load from our car, the ‘disconnection’ between the front and rear axle intensified. And the data from the tracks was a far cry from what we had seen from the simulation tools.” the Brit explained.

“The team has been working hard to understand the issues and resolve them, and if all goes well to turn things around from Austin already. If we look at Lando’s performance in the latter stint in Singapore, we need to find 23 seconds. We are starting to understand things and find some solutions, but we have a lot to do.

Obviously, it will depend on how the car reacts mechanically and aerodynamically, but also on the tires, which are particularly sensitive this year.

But this (Singapore) was the second race, after Baku, that we improved. We have understood our problems and are now on the right track to solve them. There will be many late nights in Milton Keynes”Horner added.

Again, Helmut Marko expressed much the same views as Horner, but with less restraint: “It’s crazy that Norris went ahead (in the Singapore race). Our lag is alarming. Thank God we have four weeks to work on it. There is much to be done” said the Austrian after the Singapore match.

So Red Bull needs all the changes it can bring to Texas, and Horner confirmed the team is preparing an extensive and comprehensive upgrade package for the RB20 for the Austin race.

“We have something important, but I think so do the Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren they will also have upgrades. Our aim is to build on the foundation of what we started to understand clearly after Monza, and bring a car that is well balanced between its two axles, that gives confidence to the driver.

But it won’t be easy. The first section of the Texas track is fast, but the track has new asphalt so new parameters are added. It will also be a match with Sprint, so we have to perform well right away“, concluded the British commander of Red Bull Racing.