Bernie Collins expressed her “strong suspicions” that Red Bull’s launch-day car will remain the same when it goes through F1 pre-season testing.
When Red Bull unveiled their 2024 Formula One competitor last week, there were some raised eyebrows because the RB20 shared numerous concepts with the Mercedes of the previous year.
Among these were vertical sidepod inlets resembling those on the W14 and a bulging cooling arrangement that stretched the length of the engine cover.
However, Collins, a former Aston Martin strategy engineer and Sky F1 analyst, has expressed concerns about the launch-spec RB20 design, speculating that it might be a “dummy vehicle” meant to confuse competitors.
Collins stated to the Sky F1 podcast, “I suppose maybe years in F1 have made me suspicious, so let’s see the vehicle that rolls out on Day One in Bahrain because I’m not sure it’s going to be that car.” “This might just be a small joke,”
When asked if Collins thought it might be a “dummy automobile,” he said, “Yeah, I am quite skeptical, but let’s see.”
Collins went on, “It’s a daring, brave decision if they do show up with that car because they could have simply kept developing the car they had.” I believe that would have been a safer option.
“The concern is that, although Mercedes clearly believed it could work when they placed that on the first vehicle, we certainly know Adrian Newey and the Red Bull team are very, very talented, powerful aerodynamic designers—they have demonstrated that year after year.
“It is evident that they had sufficient aerodynamic and simulation data to conclude that this car is the best we can do.
“It appears that there is a discrepancy between the car’s theoretical and actual capabilities. Has Red Bull made a mistake in this regard?
“I don’t think it’s surprising that they’ve been working on it; whenever you see another automobile with a drastically different concept, you start to wonder whether you missed something. You begin to wonder: Is there something there that we’re missing, even in a slower car?
Therefore, I don’t find it surprising that they’ve been examining it in the wind tunnel or trying to see if they can extract more information from it.
Simply put, I’m shocked that they agreed to it. They have evidently seen something that suggests, if they follow through, that they believe they can outperform their previously designed vehicle.
Is there a simulation flaw, though, that has persuaded Mercedes to persist with it for the previous two years?
“So Bahrain qualifying is going to be incredibly intriguing if that vehicle rocks up, which I’m going to be really curious to watch.”
With the first day of pre-season testing starting on Wednesday in Bahrain, we won’t have to wait long to find out exactly what Red Bull is doing.
