Red Bull Unveils Shocking New RB20 F1 Car With 2023 Mercedes-AMG Design Elements

We’re just as shocked as you are, frankly. Look at those long cooling gulleys that run backwards from the halo over the entire lengths of the engine cover. It’s pretty much the same design used by Mercedes on the W14 last year – the German outfit kept this look even after abandoning their ‘zeropod’ sidepod design.

This isn’t the only similarity between the RB20 and one of the Mercedes cars, because the former also comes with a vertical sidepod radiator inlet, kind of like what we saw on the old W13 – back when Mercedes first introduced their ‘zeropod’ design. What on Earth should we make of this? This design philosophy clearly didn’t work for Mercedes, so will it work for Red Bull? Are they that confident? Perhaps.

To be fair, the RB20 does resemble its predecessor at the front, although I have a feeling that the nose section on this launch spec car will change between now and pre-season testing in Bahrain.

Still, even Max Verstappen felt the need to comment on how different the RB20 looks compared to the RB19, stating: “It does look a bit different. I think the team definitely pushed on quite a bit from last year and I think that’s very positive. I’m just looking forward to get to Bahrain, start testing and really see what the car is capable of.”

Just to put what Red Bull appears to have done here into perspective, it’s like if the Kansas City Chiefs, fresh off winning the Super Bowl, went into next season with 50% of the roster comprised of completely new players, borrowed from a team that didn’t even make the Playoffs last month. It’s just so weird.

Even Sergio Perez chimed in with his opinion, saying that his team had done an incredible job, acknowledging that they’ve gone “very aggressive with the concept.”

“I find it great from Red Bull that we’ve had such a dominant car last year, that we just changed completely our concept. It’s something that I think requires a lot of hunger in the team, to keep pushing all the boundaries,” added the Mexican driver.

For the record, calling the RB19 dominant might even be somewhat of an understatement. Remember our feature story where we ranked the Best F1 Cars of the V6 Turbo Hybrid Era? The RB19 came out on top with a Dominance Rating of 271.1, whereas the second-place Mercedes W07 had a DR of 193.7.

The RB19 also won 21 of 23 races last year, amassing a total of 860 points in the Constructors Standings, to go with 30 podiums, 14 poles and 11 fastest laps. It’s safe to say that the RB20 has some major shoes to fill.