RB20 Evolution Key to Red Bull's Season Hope

Red Bull’s season hinges on the RB20’s evolution, with high stakes pinned on its success.

The evolution of the Red Bull RB20 for the Hungarian GP is “far more significant” than other upgrades the team has implemented so far in 2024.

Team advisor Dr. Helmut Marko states that the new components, some highly visible and others not, “must now take effect,” acknowledging that the team no longer has the fastest car on the grid.

“We want to see improvements on the stopwatch, not just theoretically in the wind tunnel. It’s about our car finding its balance more quickly during testing.”

“I hope our car will perform better in hot weather as before. But after the latest findings, I am quite skeptical. We have problems balancing the car and getting the tires to the right temperature. If McLaren achieves this right away, we only manage it with difficulty during the third free practice session or just in qualifying.”

“We hope it works because our goal is to win again by our own means. It’s critical for the rest of the season. We cannot rely on McLaren, Mercedes, and Ferrari to keep taking points off each other in the long term.”

McLaren currently has the best package, according to Marko.

“They have the fastest package, but they haven’t finished first due to driving errors and strategy. Mercedes has still shown brilliance in the last two races and Ferrari is stronger again, even though people joked after their win in Monaco that they jumped into the harbor and never came up. So, we have four teams that are on an equal footing.”

Championship leader Max Verstappen has been sounding the alarm for several weeks now.

“This is our 5th evolution of the year but it is much more important than the previous four. We hope this will help us eliminate all the issues that have recently slowed us down. It is extremely important for us that it has an effect and brings us back to where we started. Otherwise, it will be a problem.”

“It has been difficult for me to get everything out of the car in recent weekends. We need to find a better working window with the RB20.”

But even if the Hungarian upgrade goes as planned, Verstappen does not expect to simply return to a dominant position.

“The question isn’t how far away McLaren and Mercedes will be from us. We need to reverse the question and ask: ‘How far can we be?’ We didn’t have the fastest car in the last two races and I don’t expect that to suddenly change.”

“This is an important weekend for us, as I don’t know how the rest of the season will unfold if we don’t make up time here. And of course, I also don’t know what the other teams will bring here.”