Red Bull was super successful in the 2023 racing season, winning 21 out of 22 big races. They didn’t bother too much with updating their car during the season because they were so ahead. Instead, they put their energy into making big changes for the 2024 season.
Their new car, the RB20, looks really different from the one before, even though the old one did so well. This bold move paid off big time. Max Verstappen, one of Red Bull’s star drivers, won four out of the first five races in the new car. His teammate, Sergio Perez, also felt more confident and competitive in it.
Red Bull’s changes didn’t just affect the outside of the car; they also did a lot of stuff inside with the engine made by Honda. Koji Watanabe, the boss at Honda Racing Corporation, was surprised by all the changes Red Bull made. He said, “For this year’s Red Bull car, we were very surprised to see that they changed so much for the RB20.”
Even though Honda and Red Bull were winning a lot together last year, Red Bull still wanted to shake things up. They asked Honda to adjust their engine to fit the new car’s design. Watanabe said, “After we saw the RB20 in real life we were so surprised by all the changes that they made.”
Honda didn’t just stop at fitting the engine into the new car. They also worked hard to make sure it was even more reliable. This gave Red Bull more freedom to design their car however they wanted. Watanabe explained, “We can adapt the engine to the new machine… This has given Red Bull more freedom for their design and for their aerodynamic concept.”
Last year, there were some worries about the engine breaking down, but it didn’t cause any major problems. Still, Honda wanted to make sure it was even better this year. They focused on making the engine even more reliable so Red Bull could race without any worries. Watanabe said, “That is why we have made our best effort to improve the reliability of the engine even further for this year.”
