Mercedes abandoned the concept of narrow sidepods and Red Bull used it in the design of the RB 20. Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff is impressed with the new Red Bull car.
Toto Wolff: “This is an extremely courageous step. Acting conservatively they had brought a very good car to market, but now that everyone in development is dependent on data analysis, this analysis has apparently shown the advantage of this approach for creating downforce or better handling. Otherwise Red Bull would not have done this. Over the years they have always been innovators, a point of reference for everyone, and I am convinced they knew what they were doing.
They used some of our ideas. Not only the minimal sidepods, but also the shape of the engine housing. However, the key to speed now lies in the design of the bottom. Modern machines can be called ‘ekranoplans’, and this is the direction in which development will go in the coming years.”
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
