Monaghan: RB20's Tough Development Not a Mercedes Repeat

Red Bull’s RB20 faces tough development due to its extreme design, but Chief Engineer Paul Monaghan firmly rejects comparisons to Mercedes’ past difficulties.

This year, Red Bull is grappling with difficulties in developing its RB20 smoothly and efficiently, largely due to the car’s more extreme design. However, Chief Engineer Paul Monaghan firmly rejects any comparison with Mercedes F1’s struggles in recent years.

“No, I wouldn’t describe our car that way,” Monaghan stated. “Some of the feedback from the drivers, whether positive or negative, whether they like or dislike it, has been given on our car in most, if not all, races, and as such, it isn’t unpredictable when it comes to circuits.”

“We know what we are likely to encounter, and consequently, we have measures in our preparations to try to mitigate those issues and make the most of them. So no, I don’t know what characteristics Mercedes described; if they said their car was a diva, I don’t think ours is.”

No “Absolute Mess” but “Tiny Gains”

After a dominant start to the year, Red Bull has lost its pace, and Monaghan admits that development hasn’t been ideal: “It’s a question we’ve asked ourselves repeatedly, as you can imagine. The characteristics, which you often hear engineers talk about, haven’t really changed.”

“We have revised the bodywork several times, increasing downforce to try to make it more efficient, and there’s nothing we see in our research tools or from the races that suggests we’ve made things worse or missed our targets.”

“But that doesn’t mean we can’t take another look and be thorough in asking ourselves whether the car is genuinely better, or if we’ve just changed it slightly, achieving the same lap time while making things a bit more difficult.”

“It’s an ongoing process, and whatever subtle improvements we find, they aren’t gargantuan. It’s not about making an absolute mess; it’s about shaving off a few tenths per lap.”

“If you consider an average circuit with, say, 15 corners, missing one or two tenths spread across the lap is minimal. There’s nothing in our research tools or race data indicating that we’ve worsened the situation or missed our targets.”

No Signs the RB20 Has “Worsened”

Red Bull has found nothing in its analysis to suggest that the RB20 has deteriorated this year, so the team continues to work tirelessly. Moreover, Monaghan admits that if they were to identify a specific area for improvement, they certainly wouldn’t broadcast it publicly.

“I don’t think we’ve done anything to make the car particularly bad. We’re investigating whether we’ve done things that made it less effective than before, but nothing significant has been found, which is a positive.”

“This indicates that our development process is thorough enough that when we bring updates to the car, we are confident in their performance. Of course, we want to continue evaluating, and if we do find something, I’m not sure we’d be ready to announce it.”

“The competition is against our rivals, so we stick together, move forward, step back, shift sideways—whatever it takes to get the most out of our car. Ultimately, it’s the lap time that matters.”